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\BLACK SEA, CRIMEA, DANUBIAN PROVINCES, RUSSIA, TURKEY IN ASIA, 

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SULTAN OF TURKEY. 



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COMPLETE HISTORY 


OF THE 


RUSSIAN WAR, 

FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT TO ITS CLOSE: 

i * 

GIVING A 

GRAPHIC PICTURE 

THE 

GREAT DRAMA OF WAR, 


10 „ 


AXXJi£L. 


M CJU'V/AA iLr 


BY. RUSSELL, 

CORRESPONDENT 'OF THE LONDON'TIMES, 


EMBRACING A SUPERB 

MAP OF THE SEAT OF WAR, 

AND A MAGNIFICENT ENGRAVING OF THE 

Fail of jSefatsfopof, 

SHOWING THE ATTACK AND CAPTURE OF THE MALAKOFF, ASSAULT ON THE 
REDAN, AND FALL OF SEBASTOPOL, DRAWN BY AN ARTIST WHO 
WAS EIGHT MONTHS IN THE CRIMEA. 

TOGETHER WITH 

Jfull-|page Cngrairings, 

Illustrative of the Stirring Scenes in the Crimea. 


NEWYORK: 

JOHN G. WELLS, PUBLISHING AGENT, 

11 BEEKMAN STREET, CORNER NASSAU. 

1856. 


•» >» 







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PREFACE. 


If the most intelligent man moving in common society were 
asked to give a brief, clear, and connected account of all the 
transactions of the Kussian War, from the beginning to its 
termination, he would first perhaps be surprised that any 
body should need such information. But he would immedi¬ 
ately be still more surprised to find how difficult it was for him 
to furnish it; that instead of being able to state off-hand, in 
their real order and due arrangement, the facts required, he 
would be obliged to ask time for reflection; and then even, 
time to make references. He would discover that his impres¬ 
sions, though very vivid respecting the principal particulars, 
were, after all, a mass of anachronous entanglement and his¬ 
torical confusion. 

Perhaps, indeed, the very facilities which now exist for pub¬ 
lishing diurnally every premature version which may arrive of 
affairs interesting to the public, have contributed to heap upon 
the progressive reports of this great war a burden of crude 
messages and announcements which confuse the true chronicle 
of facts; and, in short, we have not so much to learn the story 
as to recall it succinctly and to unlearn the many successive mis¬ 
statements of it. Already the newspaper records of a single 



PREFACE. 


year—stimulating, and, to our generation, novel and portentous 
intelligence—with second versions, and third versions, and cor 
rections, and alterations—exceed in bulk the immense history 
in which Gibbon chronicles the stupendous revolutions, the 
many memorable conflicts, and the countless European vicis¬ 
situdes of fifteen centuries. 

It is time to weed this literary wilderness; to preserve only 
what is valuable; to put even that in its right place; and to 
supply a compendious, lucid, and reliable narrative of a con • 
flict which might be said to have been long impending, and 
yet which virtually took Europe by surprise. 


\ 


) 


CONTENTS. 

— Mt ■ 


Pies 


Origin of THE War, 

• 

. 


• 


IB 

First Period : Invasion of Moldo-Wallachia, and State of Russian 


Troops, .... 

. 

. 


• 

, 

17 

Measures taken by the Divan, and First Proceedings of the Czar, 
Second Period : Hostilities after Turkey, but before England and 

19 

France, had Declared War, 

. 

• 


• 


21 

Battle of Oltenitza, 



• 


. 

21 

Massacre at Sinope, .... 

• 

• 


♦ 


24 

Battle at Citate, 

. . 


• 


. 

25 

Subsequent Operations, and the Proceedings of the European 


Powers, .... 

. 

. 


. 


28 

Desultory Conflicts on the Danube, . 

. . 


. 


. 

31 

Measures taken by England and France, 

. 

. 


. 


32 

Financial Condition of Russia, 

. . 


, 


. 

33 

Active Entrance of England and France into the War, 


• 


34 

Bombardment of Odessa, 

. • 


. 


• 

34 

Passage of the Danube by Luders and Gortchakoff, 



. 


35 

Siege of Silistria, 

• • 




. 

37 

Operations in the Baltic, . 

. 

• 


• 

. 

41 

Invasion of tre Crimea, 

• • 


. 


. 

43 

Brief History of the Crimea, . • 

# 

• 


. 

. 

43 

Concentration of the Allied Troops; 

• t 


• 


• 

44 

Embarkation and Yoyage, 

• 

. 


• 

*% 

44 

The Landing, .... 

• • 


. 


• 

45 

March to the Alma, 

# 

• 


• 

• 

47 

Battle of the Alma, 



. 


• 

48 

Horrors of the Battle-Field, . 

• 

• 


• 

• 

52 

Incidents of the Battle of the Alma, 

• • 


. 



54 

Marching for Sebastopol . 


. 


• 

. 

57 





7111 


CONTENTS. 


Taking Possession op Balaklava, 

- . 

• 

• 


• 

FA6B 

60 

Death op Marshal St. Arnaud, 

. 

• 


• 


. 60 

Siege op Sebastopol, 

. 

• 

• 


• 

61 

Force op the Combatants, . 

. 

• 


• 


. 61 

Position op the Allies around Sebastopol, 

. 

• 




62 

Opening Fire upon Sebastopol, 

. 

# 


• 


. 62 

The Attack on Land, 

. 

• 

• 


• 

63 

Battle op Balaklava, 

. 

• 


• 


. 65 

The Disastrous Cavalry Charge, 

. 

• 

• 


• 

71 

Letters from the Combatants, 

. 

• 


• 


. 75 

Badly Cut Up—The Surgeons at Work, 

. 

f 



• 

76 

Sortie the Next Day, 

. 

• 


• 


. 77 

The Siege Continued, 

• 

• 

• 


• 

77 

Battle op Inkermann, 

. 

• 


• 


. 78 

Ferocity of the Combatants, , 

. 


• 


• 

88 

After the Battle, a Terrible Picture, 

. 

• 


• 


. 89 

English Officers—Hair-Breadth Escapes and Mortal Disasters, 


91 

Regiments Badly Cut Up, . 

• 

. 




. 92 

Russian Brutalities, 

• 

. 

. 



93 

Fatality op the Minie Rifle, 

• 

• 




. 93 

j**ERSONNEL OF THE RUSSIAN SOLDIERS, . 

• 

. 

.. 



94 

a. Gallant Deed, .... 

• 

. 




. 95 

Getting Accustomed to Bullets, and Taking Things Coolly, 



95 

A Dragoon Captain’s Sensations in a Cavalry Charge, 


• 


. 96 

Horse Incidents, 

. 

. 

. 



97 

Siege Continued, .... 


. 


• 


. 98 

A French Ruse, .... 

. 

. 

. 



98 

The Great Storm of November 14; The War Spirit Succumbing to 


the Elements; Wholesale Shipwreck op the Allied Fleets, 

. 99 

A Series of Sharp Encounters, 

• 

. 

. 



101 

Order of the Entertainment, - . 

• 

• 


# 


. 102 

Miseries of Life in Camp, 

• 

• 

# 


# 

103 

Incidents of the Siege, Etc., 

• 

• 


* 


. 106 

General Prospects of the Siege, • 

t 

• 

, 


♦ 

107 

Progress of the War, 

• 

• 




. 108 

Death of the Emperor Nicholas, 

• 

. 

. 



109 

Accession of Alexander, . . . 

• 

• 


# 


. no 

Military Terms, .... 

• 

• 

, 



in 

French Night Attack, . 

• 


. 



117 

Capture of Kertch and Yanikale, 

• 





. 118 

Capture of the Mamelon, 

• 


, 



119 

Repulse of the Allies in their Attack on the Redan and Malakoff, 122 

Death op Lord Raglan, . 

• 


# 


# 

124 

Battle op Traktir Bridge, on the Tchernaya, . 

# 


9 


. 125 

Bombardment, Assault, and Fall of Sebastopol, 

ETC., 

• 



126 






CONTENTS. 


is 


Czar in the Crimea, . . . 

• ft 

PAGE. 

. 163 

Capture op Russian Flotilla, 


164 

Destruction of Merchant Shipping at Old Salis, 

164 

Bombardment of the Forts at Dunamunde, . 

165 

Cavalry Affair near Eupatoria, . 

• ft 

165 

Conquest of Kars by the Russians, • 

ft 

. . 166 

Capture of Russian Vessels, 


168 

Desire for Peace, .... 

ft 

. 168 

Fall of Kinburn, 

• • 

. . 168 

Peace Conference Proposed, 

• 

. 169 

Bombardment of Marionople,. 

* • 

. . 169 

Battle of the Ingour, 

. . 

. 170 

New British Commander-in-Chief, 

• • 

172 

A sharp but unimportant Action, 

ft 

. . 172 

Defeat of Anglo-Turkish Cavalry 

ft ft 

. 172 

Prospect of Peace, 

ft • 

. . 172 

Conclusion of Peace, 

, . 

174 

Treaty of Peace, 


175 

Conventions annexed to the Treaty, 

. • 

179 

Maritime Law, .... 

. * 

181 

Military Terms, 

• 

182 




COMPLETE HISTORY 


OP 

THE RUSSIAN WAR, 

FROM 

ITS COMMENCEMENT TO ITS CLOSE. 


THE ORIGIN OF THE WAR. 

So lengthy have been the official documents from which the 
alleged causes of the war were to be obtained, and so con¬ 
fused their details, that the mass of Americans have found it a 
discouraging task to study them. Hence we have heard, on 
all sides, inquiries as to the “grounds of the dispute,” the 
“ pretexts for the invasion,” etc., indicating the necessity of the 
present publication, affording a clear, however brief, statement 
of the historical facts, so far as accessible to us. These will 
show that religious bigotry has had much to do with the mat¬ 
ter, as has been the truth of too many of the conflicts that have 
desolated the earth. The various churches of Jerusalem, and 
“ the region round about Jordan” generally, have been always 
objects of veneration to the Roman Catholics as well as to the 
members of the Greek Church. The guardianship of their 
holy shrines had been shared between them, the Greek Christ¬ 
ians claiming under the protection of the Sultan, and the 
Roman Catholic Christians under France. The claim of this 
religious protectorate by the French was based on a treaty 
made in 1740. A number of conventions had been “con¬ 
cluded” by the interested parties, to use the language of diplo¬ 
macy ; but this, as is too often the result of treaties, proved 
only a technical “ conclusion” of the difficulty. None of the 
conventional arrangements had defined the rights of the 
churches with sufficient clearness to prevent contentions. Con- 



14 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


sequently these were constantly springing up. The Sublime 
Porte issued his firmans , defining the religious privileges of his 
Grecian subjects, while France as pertinaciously insisted upon 
the rights for the Catholics. The dispute finally assumed a 
temper which showed it to be religious only in name, and 
became a foolishly stubborn contest between hierarchies, urged 
forward and stimulated by political intrigue. The Revolu¬ 
tionary Government of the First Eepublic was as warm in the 
contest as the Catholic House of Orleans, and the Protestant 
Guizot as either; and Louis Napoleon, when President of the 
Eepublic, showed an active desire to conciliate the clergy by 
vigorously asserting the privileges of the Catholic Church. 
Violent disputes having arisen as to the abstraction of a large 
silver star, placed above the Shrine of the Nativity, and the ques¬ 
tion as to which Church was bound to repair the cupola of the 
Holy Sepulchre, which was fast falling into decay, in 1850, 
General Aupich, the French Ambassador at Constantinople, 
received orders to institute an inquiry into the matter; and 
obtained the appointment of a mixed commission to consider 
the dispute. The Latins claimed the exclusive possession of 
twelve “ Holy Places,” of which the four principal were the 
great cupola of the Holy Sepulchre, the Tomb of the Virgin, 
the great church at Bethlehem, and part of the garden of 
Gethsemane. This claim the Greeks disputed; but the com¬ 
mission considered the right as firmly established, the places 
having been specially named in firmans granted to the Latins. 
The Emperor of Eussia now interfered, and, in an autograph 
letter to the Sultan, claimed for the Greeks the preservation of 
all their ancient privileges in Jerusalem, and condemned the 
Turkish ministry for countenancing the pretensions of the 
Latins. Unwilling to offend so powerful a neighbor, the Sul¬ 
tan dismissed the “ mixed” commission, and appointed a new 
one, composed exclusively of Ottoman functionaries. While 
this new commission was engaged in reinvestigating the dis¬ 
pute, Nicholas proposed to the French President that they 
should themselves settle the question, leaving to Turkey simply 
the office of carrying out their wishes. To this suggestion 
Louis Napoleon returned a decided negative, and shortly after¬ 
wards the commission presented their report. They proposed 
that the great cupola of the Holy Sepulchre should be common 
property, that the Latins should have access to the Tomb of 
the Virgin, and a key of the church of Bethlehem. This 
arrangement was communicated to France in a somewhat 
apologetic manner, and was accepted under a protest by France, 
reserving the discussion of the rights of the Latins should the 
question be reopened. The Emperor of Eussia now demanded, 


ORIGIN OF TI1E WAR. 


15 


and the Porte conceded, the publication of a firman throughout 
the Sultan’s dominion, announcing the new arrangement. This 
step greatly offended the French Government, and M. Lav alette 
was dispatched to Constantinople to demand the recall of the 
firman. The Russian Ambassador, mixing in the dispute, 
insisted that the key granted to the Latins should be the key of 
a side-gate only; but the Porte adhered to its decision that 
they should have access to the principal entrance, thus placing 
the contending sects on an equality. At length the French 
Government conceded the issuing of the firman, on condition 
that it should be promulgated with as little publicity as possi¬ 
ble. But here was a new difficulty. Afif Bey, the officer 
charged with the commission, upon arriving at Jerusalem, was 
met by a clamorous demand from the Greeks fora public read¬ 
ing of the document, with all the usual parade and ceremony, 
Afif Bey wrote home for instructions, and the Russian Ambas¬ 
sador supported the claims of the Greeks, and the Porte sent 
new orders to Jerusalem for the public reading of the firman 
The delivery of the promised key now became the subject of 
renewed discord and much anxious consultation. Again was 
the whole question discussed at Constantinople, and finally the 
previous decision was confirmed, and the key of the great 
portal of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre handed to the 
Latin monks. Nicholas was but little disposed to brook this 
resistance to his wishes ; and it was at length announced that 
a special ambassador was to be dispatched from St. Petersburg 
to Constantinople, with specific demands and extraordinary 
powers. Prince Menchikoff was intrusted with this mission ; 
and thus, from the dispute of the “Holy Places,” became 
developed the germ of an European war. Prince Menchikoff 
entered Constantinople on March 1st, 1853, and, on the follow¬ 
ing day obtained an interview with the Sultan. His first step 
was characterized by an act of insolence, which marked his 
whole proceedings. According to diplomatic etiquette, an 
ambassador is bound to visit the Foreign Minister; this Men¬ 
chikoff omitted to do, and Fuad Effendi, who then held that 
office, a high-spirited man, strongly opposed to Russian influ¬ 
ence, immediately resigned. A ministerial crisis was the result, 
and so alarming did matters become, that Colonel Rose, then 
the only British representative at the Porte, wrote to the 
Admiral of the Mediterranean fleet, requesting his presence in 
the Turkish waters. Admiral Dundas, however, did not deem 
it prudent to comply with the request; and, in a few weeks, 
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe resumed his position as ambassador 
at Constantinople. 

There was now a new aspect of affairs On the 5th of May 


16 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


Prince Menchikoff presented an ultimatum, demanding the 
acknowledgment of a Russian protectorate over all the Greek 
subjects of the Ottoman empire, equivalent to the sovereignty 
over nearly four fifths of the entire population. The squabble 
between a few monks of rival churches had now grown into 
the dimensions of an European difficulty. England, France, 
Austria, and Prussia felt it incumbent to interfere. Six days 
had been first allowed for the consideration of the Russian ulti¬ 
matum, and the Prince had conceded six more. The Turkish 
ministry resigned, and the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
Reschid Pacha, addressed a note to the four great Powers, an¬ 
nouncing that Turkey had refused to accede to the Russian 
demands, and felt it incumbent to make preparations for de¬ 
fense against any offensive measures which Russia might adopt. 
The Czar, anxious apparently to gain time for military prepara¬ 
tions, transmitted another ultimatum, or “ultimatissimum,” as 
it was called, for the consideration of which eight days were 
allowed. This was also rejected, and the Turkish population 
enthusiastically clamored for war. The rejection of this last 
Russian demand reached St. Petersburg on the 26th of June; 
and on the same day, the Emperor Nicholas issued a manifesto 
announcing his intention of occupying the Danubian Princi¬ 
palities, Moldavia and Wallachia, as “material guarantees. 7 ' 
On the 2d of July, a Russian army corps, under General Dan- 
nenberg, crossed the Pruth, near Jassy, and entered Moldavia. 
The Western Powers now earnestly endeavored, in conjunc¬ 
tion with Austria and Prussia, to avert the threatened storm. 
A conference of the representatives of the four powers was 
held at Vienna, and several ineffectual attempts made to frame 
a treaty which should be agreeable to the contending parties. 
The Porte was firm in its determination to concede nothing, 
and on the 5th of October the Sultan signed a declaration of 
war, giving the Russians fifteen days to evacuate the Princi¬ 
palities. Omar Pasha, the most renowned of the Ottoman 
generals, with a force of 120,000 men, established his head¬ 
quarters at Shumla, a strongly-fortified town near the Danube, 
and awaited the expiration of the guaranteed time, to oppose 
himself to the large army which now occupied the Princi¬ 
palities. 

On the 27th March, 1854, Queen Victoria, in a message to 
both Houses of Parliament, announced that she “ felt bound 
to afford active assistance to her ally the Sultan, against un¬ 
provoked aggression,” and on the succeeding day the Gazette 
contained the official declaration of war. The Emperor Napo¬ 
leon about the same time made a similar announcement. In 
anticipation of the war, which had long been seen to be inevi 


FIRST PERIOD. 


i: 


fcable, the English Mediterranean fleet had anchored in Besika 
Bay, just outside the entrance of the Dardanelles, where they 
were soon afterwards joined by the French fleet; and the most 
powerful flotilla which ever left the shores of England, under 
the command of Admiral Sir Charles Napier, had passed the 
Sound, and awaited but the intelligence of the declaration of 
hostilities, to threaten the immense fortresses of the Baltic and 
the Gulf of Finland; thus not only blocking the great com¬ 
mercial ports of the north of Russia, but, by causing a diver¬ 
sion, preventing a concentration of the Russian power on the 
Danube. In the mean while, both countries were preparing 
large expeditionary armies to proceed immediately to the seat 
of war. 

Public feeling had been greatly exasperated in England by 
the publication of the celebrated 11 Secret Correspondence,” in 
which Nicholas proposed to the British Government the parti¬ 
tion of Turkey, and the division of the empire between the 
two countries; and this exasperation was certainly not dimin¬ 
ished when it was discovered that precisely similar overtures 
had been made to France, in which England was carefully left 
out of the bargain. For the first time, England and France— 
for so many years such deadly foes—stood side by side in arms. 
The old hereditary animosity was seemingly extinguished, and 
both nations hailed with hearty acclamations the new era. 

The Allies had thrown away the scabbard, and the sword 
was brandished for the fight. 

FIRST PERIOD, INVASION OF MOLDO-WALLACHIA, AND STATE 
OF RUSSIAN TROOPS. 

It was towards the end of August, 1853, that the first 
Vienna note was declined by the Porte, and not very long 
afterward that the second was peremptorily rejected by the 
Czar; but nearly three months earlier, orders had been dis¬ 
patched from St. Petersburg to carry the Russian Divisions 
forcibly across the Pruth into the Turkish territory, thus 
making war but not declaring it. On the 3d of July the order 
was executed. Those rich corn countries were seized; taxes 
for the maintenance of eighty thousand troops were imposed 
by the Czar upon four millions of the subjects of Abdul- 
Medjid-Klian, and contracts for nine months were based on 
these new imposts; the Danube, the greatest inland highway 
of commerce of Europe, was brought under the invader’s im¬ 
mediate and stringent control; the Hospodars were deposed; 
a Provisional Administration, at the head of which Prince 
Michael Gortchakoff was nominated to represent with su- 
2 


18 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


preme powers the undefinable Protectorate of Nicholas, was 
established; and, in short, the Czar carried into effect the 
very claims concerning the admissibility of which he was at 
the same time holding an illusory discussion with aril Europe. 
The movement was made suddenly and rapidly. In the very 
first instance fifty thousand troops—of which, perhaps, a third 
was cavalry, and which were attended with proportionate 
parks of artillery (seventy-two guns, in fact, of large calibre) 
—were pushed into Moldavia; and these troops were vir¬ 
tually but the advance-guard of the intended army of occu¬ 
pation. Two immense lines of march—one from the centre 
of European Russia, and another, equally long, from the very 
confines of Asia, were all alive with armed men, succeeding 
each other, and pressing forward to a common destination. 
From Kherson and Kief moved those who were to replace 
the garrison of Bessarabia; and the vacant and remoter can¬ 
tonments were, in their turn, supplied by the advancing col¬ 
umns of Taurida and the Don Cossacks of Pultowa and the 
Ukraine. Osten-Sacken’s corps was in movement behind, 
when* Gortchakoff and Liiders were entering the Turkish 
territory. 

The Czar had long succeeded in raising a party in his 
favor in Moldo-Wallachia; but, be it observed, it was only 
a party; it was not the people, it was such a party a> 
he has in Prussia, or in Baden. That such a party existed 
in the Principalities, is proved by the fact that, before the 
Russians had sent one soldier across the Pruth, the Divan 
of Moldavia assembled on the 14th of June, at Jassy, and 
there voted an address of sympathy and homage to the Em¬ 
peror Nicholas. Under the circumstances of the crisis, sym¬ 
pathy and homage amounted to an invitation, which he 
scarcely needed. 

Five days after Prince Gortchakoff had passed the fron¬ 
tier stream, (more fatal than the Rubicon,) he assisted at a 
“ Te Deum,” which was intoned with solemnity at St. Spiri- 
dion, the great Greek Church of Jassy. 

A week later—that is, on the 15th of July—instead of the 
seventy-two guns with which the Russians had entered the 
country, they possessed in Jassy alone 144 heavy pieces of 
artillery; and this great park and 40,000 men were instantly 
directed to advance upon the Danube. In another fortnight, 
having put this formidable column upon the march, Prince 
Gortchakoff was 160 miles away, at Bucharest, exchanging 
compliments with the bishops, who had there assembled tc 
give him welcome. Thus he was solemnly received in the 
respective chief cities of the two provinces. Between his 


MEASURES TAKEN BY THE DIVAN. 


19 


stay in tlie first of these capitals and his arrival in the other 
Ghike, the Hospodar, had sent to the Sultan a memorial of 
so equivocal a nature that it was considered a renunciation 
of the Ottoman allegiance. Under this impression, which 
was perhaps just, Abdul-Medjid deprived him at once of the 
title to that office, from the exercise of which he had already 
been practically excluded. First the Eussians robbed him of 
the possession, and then the Divan deposed him from the 
dignity. The invaders, with whom he temporised, terminated 
his jurisdiction de facto; and the Suzerain, whom he betrayed, 
abrogated it de jure. Ghika shortly afterwards explained his 
conduct, and was readmitted into partial confidence at Con¬ 
stantinople. 

The Czar felt that he had now taken steps from which he 
could not recede without incurring humiliations abroad which 
might impair his authority at home, and perchance imperil 
his dynasty. The armaments of Eussia, therefore, proceeded 
with such activity, that they were apparent to the most casual 
observation; and, not content with the resources in his hands, 
the Autocrat decreed, on the 23d of July, a new conscription 
of seven in the thousand. Meanwhile, a concentric dispatch 
of troops was continued from all the southern provinces of the 
empire upon Bessarabia. They arrived diseased, ill-provi¬ 
sioned, exhausted, after a desolating march of sometimes thou¬ 
sands of miles, over roadless countries. 

MEASURES TAKEN BY THE DIVAN; AND FIRST PROCEEDING^ 
OF THE CZAR. 

On the other side, the Sultan was not inattentive to events, 
nor unequal to his dangerous and difficult position. He had 
to provide against attacks in Asia, as well as to guard the 
European seat of his government. So early as the 23d June, 
Selim Pacha was nominated Seraskier in Anatolia, and a large 
army was placed under his command. The first object was to 
provide against the advance of the Eussians from Georgia along 
the southern shores of the Black Sea — an advance which, 
unopposed, would place Constantinople in a w;orse position 
than if the invaders, having forced the Balkans, iay encamped 
in the European province of Eoumelia, which corresponds to 
the home counties of London. In this other position, the capi¬ 
tal might still rescue the empire ; and, with the Allied fleets iv 
the Bosphorus, and off the Golden Horn, might await events 
with tranquil defiance. More than this, a Eussian army in 
Eoumelia might be said to have crossed the Balkans only 
to perish. A victory near Adrianople, over a fresh and vigor* 


20 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


ous Anglo-French army, would, to those wearied troops, f a 
moral impossibility; while retreat over the mountains weald 
offer the alternative of certain annihilation. But if a large 
force from the Transcaucasian provinces could succeed in push¬ 
ing through Erzeroum and Trebizond, and occupying Anatolia, 
then both the Channel of Constantinople and the Straits of the 
Dardanelles would be effectually commanded by the enemy ; 
the key of the entrance of the Black Sea would be in his 
hands; and he could imprison in those waters, or exclude from 
them, the maritime defenders of the Porte. A favorable mo¬ 
ment would then allow the Russian legions to be thrown across 
into the very metropolis. 

This Asiatic danger being averted, Omer Pacha was appointed 
the Turkish Generalissimo in Europe ; and so soon as the news 
of Prince Gortchakoff’s invasion had reached the Divan, 
Omer was ordered to break down all the bridges over the 
Danube, and immediately to adopt what strategic measures he 
deemed advisable for the defense of the State. 

On the 1st of September, the Sultan ordered an immediate 
additional levy of 80,000 men, which was answered on the 
24th by a ukase of the- Czar, calling out a new conscription. 

Four days after the Sultan’s Hatti Sheriff, Prince Gortcha- 
koff, who was at Bucharest, about twenty-five miles from the 
great river which he had orders to pass, issued a proclamation, 
concluding with these extraordinary words : “ Russia is called 

to annihilate Paganism, and those who would oppose her in 
that sacred mission shall be annihilated with the Pagans! 
Long life to the Czar I Long life to the Deity of the Russians /” 

The last fruitless diplomatic effort before Turkey declared 
war—an effort on the one side to come to an understanding, 
and on the other to overreach Europe—was the conference at 
Olmiitz, where the Czar tried his personal influence over the 
young Emperor Francis Joseph. Nicholas arrived at Warsaw 
on the 20th of September, and thence reached Olmiitz on the 
23d. Seven days later, he was again at Warsaw, disappointed 
and baffled, as it was commonly imagined, in all the objects of 
his late visit—a visit which had not been undertaken until 
envoy after envoy (each of higher reputation than his pre¬ 
decessor) had failed at Vienna. The subsequent conduct of 
Austria, is, perhaps, the best light by which we can guide our 
conjectures; and, whatever praise may be due to Francis 
Joseph, this reflection will occur to everybody, that he might 
have earned a still higher praise, for he might have prevented the 
European conflict altogether. 


SECOND PERIOD. 


21 


SECOND period: hostilities after turkey, but before 

ENGLAND AND FRANCE HAD DECLARED WAR. 

It was not before the beginning of October that the Sultan, 
who could wait no longer for the Allies, and, indeed, no longer 
restrain the eagerness of his own people, formally declared war 
against Russia, and decreed that 150,000 fresh troops should be 
raised and organized at once, for the defense of Islam. The 
Czar, when this heroic act of the Sultan was announced to him, 
declared that, “ from that moment forth, he retracted all his con¬ 
cessions .” 

The declaration of war could not have been further de¬ 
layed. Even before it was possible for the news to have 
reached the Danube, about 1300 Redifs suddenly passed the 
river, and made a foray on the Russian side. They met part 
of Liiders’ division, fought their way successfully back to the 
water’s edge, and re-crossed in safety with their spoils. 

Omer Pacha had been diligently employed in organizing his 
wild troops since the early part of July ; and, with the aid ot 
some European officers, chiefly French, belonging to the ar¬ 
tillery, engineers, and other military classes and denominations, 
he soon saw himself at the head of an army in which he could 
place confidence, and which proved itself equal to all the exi¬ 
gencies of the war. The Turks are patient and hardy in the 
field; their courage is proverbial, and has been proverbial for 
more than four hundred years. 

Omer Pacha, having duly received notification that war was 
declared, granted yet three weeks to all neutral flags to pass 
to and fro on the Danube, and proclaimed that this license 
would terminate on the 25th of the month then current, (Oc¬ 
tober.) All Russian subjects resident in Turkey were placed 
under Austrian protection. 

The Russians were diligently using the Black Sea as a high¬ 
way for the movement of troops, the rearrangement of strategic 
posts, and the transit of provisions, arms, and ammunition. 
For example, 5000 Russian soldiers, whom the fleets might 
have intercepted, were landed in October at Redout Kaleh, to 
succor the army of the Caucasus, and to attack Batoum. 

On the 1st of November, M. de la Cour was recalled, and 
General (now Marshal) Baraguay d’Hilliers appointed ambassa¬ 
dor at Constantinople on the part of the French Emperor. 

BATTLE OF OLTENITZA. 

On November 2d, Omer Pacha began to cross the Danube. 
He had been ordered by the Turkish government to break 


22 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


down all the bridges. Establishing securely his eommunica 
tions with ,the sea through Yarna, and rendering Shumla, at 
the distance of thirty miles inland, impregnable, he collected 
such a force of infantry and artillery around and within easy 
reach of that powerful basis, that by always refusing, as mili¬ 
tary men say, the right wing of his position, and throwing the 
left forward, which it will be seen he did throughout, he was 
sure, at the very least , of fulfilling his trust, and of defending 
the remainder of Turkey effectually. 

Haying taken these defensive precautions, and having col¬ 
lected a disposable body sufficient for his purpose, he deter¬ 
mined to divert the Russians from passing the Danube, by 
passing it himself. His sudden presence would compel the 
enemy to much marching and counter-marching, perhaps even 
to a great concentration of troops; operations not performed 
without serious fatigue, or without disturbing the combina¬ 
tions, and arresting the more general designs of the hostile 
commander. Besides all this, he might inflict some direct and 
severe loss on the enemy. But the great object was, by a bold 
movement, to animate and cheer his own troops, and to dispel 
the delusion of Russian superiority. 

On the 2d of November, and on the 3d and 4th, Omer 
Pacha forced his passage fifteen miles lower down from Tur- 
tukai to Oltenitza, with 13,000 men. The Russians were nu¬ 
merically much stronger; but they had been, in part, per¬ 
plexed respecting the designs, and even respecting the presence 
of the Turkish generalissimo ; in part, they were out-maneuvered 
during the actual operations, and in part they were beaten fairly 
on the field. The Turks forced the passage with artillery, held 
it manfully by the bayonet, and then secured it with spade and 
^xe. The conflict lasted, omitting the intervals which in¬ 
terrupted it, three hours ; and will ever be memor¬ 

able under the name of tne ‘‘ Battle of Oltenitza. 77 

The combat deserves a special description. The Turks had 
entrenched themselves by ten o’clock in the morning of No¬ 
vember 2. At eleven o’clock, a cloud of Cossack skirmishers 
attacked them, and were followed by four columns of infantry 
and twenty cannon. Large masses of cavalry immediately 
afterwards appeared against the right of the Turks, the only 
part of the field where horse could maneuver. The Russians 
could on that day collect but 8000 men, and these were with 
ease repulsed ; for, though the occupants of the entrenchments 
were but 3000, that number was sufficient, with the advantage 
of their field-works ; and there was the protection of the river 
batteries besides. Next day the Russians,.were in greater num¬ 
ber, but the Turks had also been reinforced incessantly, and, 


BATTLE OF OLTENITZA. 


23 


moreover, the entrenchments were stronger. Omer Pacha 
gained a second victory, precisely like the first. On the 4th 
of November, the third and greatest attack was made. The 
Russians were now 30,000 strong, while Omer had flung into 
this venturesome and forward outpost all the men he could 
spare, amounting to 18,000. 

A very protracted and desperate engagement ensued. The 
Turkish left was impregnable, and as it was both very uninvit¬ 
ing, and had in front of it covered ground and brushwood, 
where the enemy lay, the carnage was here not great. But on 
the Turkish right, which was assailed over an open and level 
space, a fearful slaughter ensued. The Russian infantry tried 
to storm this side. When first advancing, they were mowed 
down in whole companies by the Turkish artillery from the 
south bank ; on their nearer approach, the fire of the Turkish 
musketry, and even pistol-shots, discharged from behind a 
cover, which forbade any effective retaliation, continued to 
shake their array and thin their ranks. But “ they would not 
be refused.” They reached (in some disorder, it is true, and 
much weakened, but still they reached) the foot of the earth- 
works. At this time the Osmanlis had hardly lost a man since 
morning. A sudden shout arose among them, they leaped over 
their own entrenchments, and charged the astonished, decimated, 
and already half-broken assailants with the bayonet, routing 
them completely. The movement could not extend far on ac¬ 
count of the Russian cavalry, which prohibited all pursuit. In 
many respects, it was a very peculiar contest; and we can not 
account for the smallness of the number slain on the side of 
the Turks. It is stated to have been under twenty. The Rus¬ 
sians lost a thousand men. Omer Pahca, all this time, showeu 
the temperament of a Turk, instead of that of a German, whicn 
he is. He is an Austrian, of the name of Lattas, a soldier of 
fortune, who has become a great general, and has secured to 
himself, already, a considerable place in history. During the 
engagement he remained on his own side of the river. He 
had taken every measure in his power. He had done what he 
could do to insure victory; and he now watched the varying 
phases of the action while smoking his pipe. He was quietly 
seated on the high ground with a celebrated stranger, who was 
present through motives of professional curiosity — General 
Prim, the Spaniard. They gazed on the scene through tele¬ 
scopes, seated, with their feet comfortably stretched towards a 
large wood-fire. They saw the test-fight of an army hitherto 
untried, and they saw its victory. 

After this event, the Turkish position seemed to be, for some 
time, that of assailants, much more than of mer act mg the 


24 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


defensive. They occupied both sides of the Danube in the 
most important places. These Turks were but part of the 
same division which held Rustchuk and Giurgevo, and were 
led by Omer in person. Sistova, Nicopolis, and Rahova were 
also in their hands. They had, under the command of Ismail 
Pacha, crossed the river at Widdin, and not only had seized 
Kalafat, but had entered Kalarasch with 4000 men. They had 
placed two thousand men on an island, as though they would 
hold both the banks, and likewise what lay between. 

Nine days elapsed before the Russians ventured again to 
attack the Turkish redoubt between Oltenitza and the river. 
They were waiting for reinforcements. The season was now 
growing late; but as rapidly as its rigors would allow, large 
reinforcements were poured from Bessarabia into the Principal¬ 
ities. On the 11th, they again attacked the stubborn entrench¬ 
ments. General Engelhardt had arrived with the reserves. 
They were repulsed with loss. They then endeavored to ma^k 
the position ; and, by getting possession of the island for even 
an hour, to force this out-garrison, on their own bank, to lay 
down its arms. All these attempts were unsuccessful; and, on 
the 14th of November, they were even forced to look more to 
defense and less to attack; for, on that day, the Turks had the 
spirit and strength to make an outburst; and having fallen 
upon Oltenitza itself, and ravaged its suburbs, retired without 
loss. On the 26th, Omer Pacha established a bridge between 
the south shore and the island of Mokan or Mokannon, higher 
up the Danube, not far from Giurgevo; and about the same 
time he withdrew the troops which were in position on the 
further bank, in front of Turtukai, and under Oltenitza; and 
though retaining also the island of Ramadan, he was obliged 
to concentrate his soldiers rather more, in the face of the ever- 
increasing numbers of the enemy. 

MASSACRE AT SINOPE. 

Selim Pacha was reported to have stormed Saffa, and to have 
won a battle at Gumri or Alexandropol, on the 18th. Five 
days later, Ali Pacha was beaten at Akhalrick by General 
Andronikoff. The terrible 30th of November arrived; six 
Russian ships of the line, with several smaller vessels of war, 
suddenly filled the aperture of the harDor of Sinope. There 
were in port thirteen Turkish sail, unprepared for action, and 
not expecting it. But had they even received warning, their 
whole fleet was no match for the six Russian first-rates, without 
counting the powerful frigates, and other craft, by which they 
were supported. 


i 





CANT0XX1ER Oi- 



























































BATTLE AT CITATE. 


25 


Admiral NachimofF commanded the Russian fleet at Sinope, 
and Osman Pacha the Turkish naval detachment. This last 
was in a short time burnt and destroyed. Seven frigates, one 
Bteam-frigate, two schooners, and three transports were, all ex¬ 
cept two, reduced to a shapeless heap of floating timbers, 
blackened with gunpowder, stained with blood, and covered 
with mutilated human limbs, and the corpses of 5000 brave 
and unfortunate Turks, who, taken at fatal disadvantage, had 
fought to the last with unshaken heroism. In a few minutes 
after the action began, the outer vessels of the Turkish detach¬ 
ment were blown “ into one long port-hole.” The feeble bat¬ 
tery of Sinope, over-head, brought no succor. When its un¬ 
timely guns were at length fired, some of their shot fell among 
the friends whom they were destined to protect. Admiral 
Nachimoff’s squadron sustained comparatively little injury, 
though some of the vessels showed how strenuous had been 
the unavailing resistance. A few Turks swam to land, and, 
clambering over the heights, escaped. Osman Pacha, before 
he could set fire to his own flag-ship, was taken prisoner, 
desperately wounded. The chief prizes which the Russians 
thought it still possible to remove, foundered while towed be¬ 
hind them in the Black Sea. Osman Pacha, whom they carried 
half-dead to Sebastopol, expired there within six weeks from 
his arrival. The news of this event electrified all Europe. 
When it was known at St. Petersburg, the Czar distributed 
naval decorations, ordered a solemn Te Deum in his churches^ 
published an exulting manifesto. 

BATTLE AT CITATE. 

Of the three Russian corps who were ordered to execute a 
nmultaneous advance, the western was that which was ready 
to enter first into action. “ The Pagans,” stationed at Kalafat, 
were those whom it was the special business of this column 
“to annihilate.” It was commanded by General Fishback, 
under whom acted Generals Engelhardt and Bellegarde ; while 
Prince Yassilitchkoff led the cavalry. Their whole corps con¬ 
sisted of but 22,000 men, of whom 7000 moved more slowly 
to act as a reserve, loitering near Karaul, on the left of the line 
of march. There was a neighboring column, only a few miles 
to the left, as strong as their own. Not being joined by the 
column on his left, nor by any of the idle garrisons to the rear 
of his right, and having disposed of seven thousand of his own 
men as a reserve, he found, when he arrived at Citate, that he 
had with him only fifteen thousand. Now, the Turks at Kala¬ 
fat, whom he was going to attack, were entrenched; and no 


a6 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


soldiers defend entrenchments better. Moreover, their force 
was numerically equal to his own; and they were in imme¬ 
diate communication with Widdin, across the Danube, and 
probably from Widdin would be largely supported. lie began 
to doubt whether he was strong enough for his undertaking; 
accordingly, he suddenly halted at Citate, and began to throw 
up entrenchments. In this deliberate manner he was occupied 
on the 4th and 5th of January, and the assault upon Kalafat 
was postponed to the 13th. Large reinforcements were de¬ 
manded ; the inactive columns on his right were summoned to 
join him from Radowa, Orsova, and the Transylvanian frontier; 
and then a grand combined onslaught would drive the Turks 
into the Danube or, at the worst, compel them to cross it, and 
seek refuge in Widdin. 

The Pachas, Achmet and Ismail, who commanded at Kalafat, 
were informed of all General Fishback’s movements, and well 
knew that the intended attack of the 13th of January would 
be very serious. Resolute leaders of resolute troops, they yet 
looked forward with anxiety to an encounter with forty-five 
thousand Russians, exactly three times the number of their 
own force. They determined not to await the leisure of the 
Russians, or the ultimate danger of such an assault, but to sally 
forth at once, and to fight General Fishback at Citate on more 
equal terms. At day-break, therefore, on the 6th of January, 
(Christmas-day in Russia,) they marched from Kalafat. They 
had fifteen field-guns, ten thousand regular infantry, whom 
Ismail and Achmet Pachas themselves led in person; four 
thousand cavalry, commanded by Mustapha Bey ; and a thou¬ 
sand Bashi-bozouks, under the colonelcy of the gallant and 
adventurous Skender-Beg, of historic name. The road to Ci¬ 
tate led through Roman, Galantza, Funtina, and Moglovitz. 
To prevent any surprise of Kalafat in their absence, Ismail had 
ordered over 3000 of the garrison of Widdin, as a temporary 
guard. He took the further precaution of leaving about an 
equal number of troops at Moglovitz, on the road, in order to 
maintain his communications, and at need, protect his retreat, 
if he was beaten. By their help he would, at ttie worst, rally 
his force at Moglovitz. It was nine o’clock as the assailants 
entered Citate, in the streets of which were posted 3000 Rus¬ 
sians and four guns. By a cross-street the Turks brought 
some of their own pieces to play upon the defenders, and then 
Achmet charged them in front with his infantry. After the 
first onset, the Turks disdained the restraints of rank and file— 
restraints not suited to street-fighting. The battle resembled a 
meeting of innumerable pairs of duelists; and for this species 
of close and personal action, the Turks had the advantage in 


BATTLE AT CITATE. 


27 


arms, in bodily vigor, and in courage. The Russian soldiei 
possessed now no weapon but his bayonet, and was cumbrously 
accoutred. The agile Turk had the bayonet also, and if, in the 
crush, or the turns of the dense and wild struggle, a blade and 
its shorter thrust, or its cut, were more desirable, he instantly 
had the ready and national weapon in his hands. From house 
to house, storming every place out of the window of which a 
shot had been fired, from crossing to crossing, in-doors and out 
of doors, the assailants pressed back the Russians; and, in three 
hours, had driven them into their entrenchments. Against 
these the Turks forthwith brought up their field-pieces, which, 
we believe, were as many as fifteen; and here they suffered 
their principal loss that day. The cannonade was briskly sus¬ 
tained on both sides, and several bold assaults upon the works 
were repulsed. In the midst of this conflict, the Russian rein¬ 
forcements from Karaul appeared. Had they arrived while 
the Turks were entering the village, they would, perhaps, have 
finished the action almost as soon as it had been begun. But 
now the position taken by those who were beleaguering the 
Russian trenches, and a part of whom faced about to meet the 
new enemy, must be reached through some suburban orchards 
and gardens; and as the reserves ventured upon these, they 
were used as a natural entrenchment by the Turks; with this 
difference, that the defenders were prompt to sally from them. 
It was a curious position ; the Turks were, at the same moment, 
assailants in front, and on their defense in the rear; and, while 
their original attack was repulsed, they were victorious over the 
attack against themselves. The hedges, the walls, every tree, 
every bush, served them as so many fortresses. Meantime 
Ismail Pacha, when he had driven the Russians out of the 
streets of Citate, had re-collected the force he had left at Mog- 
lovitz, and bethought him with what object. His circum¬ 
stances were now altered. He no longer contended for safety; 
he contended for victory; and he wanted to make victory as 
complete as possible; he, therefore, sent for these reserves. 
They arrived just as the Russian column from Karaul had 
been entirely repulsed, with the loss of 250 men, and were dis¬ 
persing in a disorderly flight, pursued by a sufficient body of 
horse to prevent them from rallying. The Turkish ranks were 
now re-formed ; and, with new vigor and augmented numbers, 
they returned to the assault of the entrenchments, out of which 
the Russians had never been able successfully to sally. This 
last effort was triumphant. The Turks burst through the de¬ 
fenses, and routed the disheartened troops behind them. About 
2400 Russians were slain in the village, among the gardens, and 
in the field works. A proportionate number were wounded, 


28 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


and, among these, two generals, who are stated to have been 
Aurep and Tuinont. We believe that the Turks took not a 
dozen prisoners, so ferocious was the engagement. They, on 
their side, had 200 men killed, and 700 wounded. They cap¬ 
tured four guns, and all the ammunition and stores in the en¬ 
trenchments; besides, of course, obtaining the arms of the 
slain. The village of Citate remained in their hands ; and on 
the next day, and the next again, they held it by force against 
the vehement efforts of the enemy to retake it. They ranged 
about the neighborhood as masters for a few days longer, and, 
by several brilliant raids and forays, drove the Russians all the 
way back to Krajova. This division of the invading army 
now established its head-quarters at Slatina, a more distant and 
more modest situation than they had recently intended to 
select; and Europe thenceforward heard no more of the great 
deed appointed for the 13th of January, namely, the storming 
of Kalafat. All the Russian combinations were, in fact, ar¬ 
rested and dislocated by this prompt, this brilliant rush of the 
Turks upon Citate—a dictate of genius. They saved their 
post, in the only way in which it could have been saved, by 
assailing that of the enemy. Such was the remarkable combat 
of Citate; an action which proves that the Turks know how 
to attack and to storm entrenchments, as well as how to defend 
them. 

After a short time, the Turks retired to their entrenchments 
at Kalafat, where they had by this time mounted 250 heavy 
guns. There, and at Widdin, immediately behind it, on the 
other side of the Danube, they had increased their force to 
25,000 men. 

SUBSEQUENT OPERATIONS ; AND THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
EUROPEAN POWERS. 

On the day before the battle of Citate, (the 5th,) Omer Pacha 
had again alarmed the Russians at Griurgevo, where there was 
a sharp skirmish,'in which the Turks had rather the advantage. 
They then re-crossed the river. 

The Russians were incessantly reinforced. Their siege-trains 
had begun to arrive, and they had parked a hundred and twenty 
large guns at Galatz, opposite the Bessarabian frontier, and a 
hundred at Griurgevo. 

In the Crimea, the Czar, prescient of coming dangers, had 
ordered the erection of coast-batteries, which were now rising 
in every favorable spot upon the cliffs. At such a time, and 
after such occurrences, the order reached the English fleet to 
salute the Russian ships. At Constantinople, news arrived that 


SUBSEQUENT OPERATIONS. 


29 


Kars was taken; and that, on the other hand, all Abasia had 
pronounced for Schamyl, and that a great attack upon Shef- 
ketil had been repulsed. The Allied squadrons patrolled the 
Euxine ; there was no danger of another Sinope ; and Turkish 
reinforcements, therefore, were dispatched by sea to Armenia. 
In the following March, the Sultan, it was announced, would 
join the army of Bulgaria. Less depressing intelligence was 
brought from Asia; the Turks were again the assailants, and 
were operating at Akhaltzik, and against Gumri. 

On the 19th of January, Lieutenant-General Schilders, who, 
in 1829, had taken Silistria, and who was at the head of the 
engineering department in the Russian army, left Warsaw, in 
pursuance of a command of the Emperor Nicholas; and, on 
the 26th, reached Krajova, to assume the supreme direction 
of the siege operations of the ensuing campaign. 

General Schilders made his first report before the end of 
January. It was not the loose and cursory conjecture of a 
hostile witness, but the official return of an experienced Rus¬ 
sian general to his sovereign, respecting the losses of a Russian 
army. He states that, in January, 1853, thirty-five thousand 
Russian soldiers had already perished in the Principalities. 
And yet, at that date, there had been only two months, or, at 
most, ten weeks of actual fighting. Nor was it, in truth, chiefly 
by the sword that this stupendous loss had been inflicted, 
latigue, hunger, want, cold, the marsh-fever, and the cholera, 
had swept away five sixths of these wretched victims to mili¬ 
tary ambition. 

For about a month, dating from the battle of Citate, both 
armies on the Danube were occupied chiefly in preparations for 
fighting; and it is fortunate that the illness of Omer Pacha, 
which lasted three weeks, occurred after such exploits as 
secured his troops for a while from the chance of any serious 
molestation. But, further, he had made already his principal 
arrangements, and his part now was to wait. 

It was on the 8th of February that, at length, Baron Brun 
now, the ambassador of the Emperor Nicholas at the Court of 
St. James, took his reluctant and memorable departure from 
London. M. Kisselef, at the same moment, said the same sig¬ 
nificant farewell at Paris, to Napoleon the Third. Thus Eng¬ 
land and France, confederates for the first time in a great mili¬ 
tary struggle, were left face to face with the most important 
war which had occurred for many centuries, and, beyond com¬ 
parison, the most awful (in the means of destruction) ever 
known since the foundation of the world. Count OrlofFs mis¬ 
sion having failed to preserve peace, war became the only road 
to its restoration; and in the hope that that war might be short. 


30 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


all good men wished it should be vigorous. Still the Allies 
were unwilling to make the rupture irrevocable. They framed 
a statement of the terms on which they could yet treat with 
Russia; and, having obtained the assent of Austria to the 
principles of their proposal, sent it to St. Petersburg. They 
then redoubled their preparations for the conflict. The Baltic 
fleet was fitted out, and Sir Charles Napier selected for its 
command. The French contributed their contingent to this 
fleet; but, while in the Black Sea, they maintained a magnifi 
cent naval force, and even a greater number of first-class ships 
than the English, their proportion of the Baltic fleet was con¬ 
siderably smaller. Therefore, Admiral Parseval Deschdnes 
here gave precedence to Admiral Napier, just as Lord Raglan, 
in the united army in the East, yielded the highest post to 
the Marechal de St. Arnaud, who brought a larger force into 
the field. It was agreed that the expedition of the Western 
Powers to Turkey should, in the first instance, consist of about 
seventy-five thousand men, of whom the French should furnish 
about fifty or forty-five thousand, and the English rather more 
than half that number. But the Emperor Napoleon openly 
announced, that, in case of necessity, he could spare, and would 
send, a hundred thousand troops to that particular scene of 
conflict; that he would maintain, in addition, a great army in 
camp and ready for the march, on the northern frontier of 
France; and that this host he would, if cbmpelled, lead in per¬ 
son to a part of Europe where no operations were originally 
contemplated, and where, he hoped, there would be no occasion 
finally to act—a part of Europe where he should regret to 
renew the memorable lessons of 1806 and 1807. Nor was this 
all. Besides the splendid army which he would at once dis¬ 
patch to Turkey; besides the mighty fleet which would act in 
the East; besides the camp at Toulon, in the south of France, 
and the military centres to be formed at Brest and Lorient, in 
the north; besides the vast, effective, and independent army 
which would be soon collected in the Pas de Calais • besides 
the second, and necessarily smaller, fleet of twenty-five ships 
of war, which were to support and share the Baltic expedition; 
he determined further to send—what would be very much 
needed in the latter seas, but what England could not suffi¬ 
ciently soon supply, or, indeed, well spare at all—a strong 
body of land troops to operate in connection with the naval 
force. On the 22d of the month, the first British detachment, 
destined for the East, the Coldstream and Grenadier Guards, 
left London by railway, for Southampton, and there embarked, 
amidst the acclamations of an immense multitude, who had 
flocked from neighboring and even from distant counties, to 


DESULTORY" CONFLICT ON THE DANUBE. 


31 


bid good speed to their defenders. After this date regiment 
followed regiment in quick succession. The cavalry went last. 
All this time the French were also in full activity. Great 
forces of cavalry and infantry and field-guns were directed 
toward the south; and, passing through Lyons and Grenoble, 
reached the sea-ports of the Mediterranean There a sufficient 
fleet was fast assembling for their transport; and they were 
rapidly embarked at Marseilles and Toulon. The heavier 
artillery required for siege operations was not so soon prepared. 

DESULTORY CONFLICT ON THE DANUBE. 

Such were the occurrences in the West, while the long 
suffering world awaited the answer of Nicholas to the last offers 
of the Western powers, sent through the hands of Austria. 
It was wisely agreed to prepare for war, though it was modestly 
determined to defer declaring it until the superb autocrat 
should, by his next message, in whatever sense, deliver the 
nations from further uncertainty. The news that the Russian 
envoys had quitted London and Paris reached Constantinople 
in about twelve days, (that is, on the 20th of February, 1854,) 
and excited the wildest joy. The delight of the Osmanlis 
overcame their habitual gravity. The ancient capital of the 
East broke into a frenzy of exultation. Intelligence of the 
great event was dispatched to the army of the Danube; but, 
before the messengers arrived, that army already knew it from 
the wild Syrian recruits and the Bashi-bozouks of Asia, who 
tried the mettle of their Arabian coursers in a race against the 
government couriers, which should be the first to report the 
awful and final rupture between the Giaours of the East and 
the Giaours of the West. Hostilities had been actively re¬ 
sumed. After their late repulses and humiliations at Matchin, 
at Giurgevo, and at Citate, the Russians, as though retreat were 
their next business, began to fortify Fokshani, a place far to 
the rear, seated at the foot of the Carpathians, and about half¬ 
way between Bucharest, the chief town of Wallachia, and Jassy, 
the distant capital of Moldavia. In Fokshani, they laid up 
large military stores; and then, finding that there was no ad¬ 
vance of the Turks, and that their own reinforcements were 
constantly, if slowly, arriving, they resumed the offensive. 

About the 13th of February, they collected a considerable 
strength against Giurgevo, and attacked it, with much loss 
indeed; but in this sense, with such success, that the Turks, 
after two or three days’ resistance, evacuated the place in per 
feet order, and took boat to Rustchuk. This was on the 19th 
of February. The enemy immediately seized the town. Guns 


32 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


were then directed against Bustchuk. Day and night the Bus* 
sians sought, by force and by guile, to cross at that point. The 
resistance was desperate. On the 24th of February, the Bus- 
sians were still on their defense, and rather timidly commanded, 
in front of Kalafat, a town which, according to their own plans, 
ought to have been stormed on the 13th of the previous 
month. 

March opened with a change. The Bussians had completed 
their dilatory preparations; and they now had, for attack, all 
the means which they were likely to have. Still, on the very 
eve of their grand and irresistible advance into Bulgaria, Wal- 
lachia was the scene of another warning blow. The Turkish 
column at Bahova crossed the Danube on the 4th of March, 
and drove back the Bussian outposts of Kalarasch with perfect 
success, and no small slaughter. Then, while the whole force 
of the enemy was assembling to punish this inroad, the Turks 
returned in safety to Bahova. On the 5th of March, martial 
law was proclaimed through all the Bussias, and in Poland; 
and orders came to the Bussian generals in the Principalities to 
press the war more vigorously. On the 11th of the same 
month, there was a violent struggle around Kalafat; but the 
Turks remained masters of the place. It was their last strong¬ 
hold on the northern bank of the Danube. But they continued 
to keep the south bank, as well as some islands in the stream. 
Prince Gortchakoff attacked it on the 15th of March, and lost 
2000 men in the attack; at the same time, he failed to take the 
island. It would have been a victory of very uncertain value; 
but it was a bloody defeat instead. About this time, between 
the 12th and 16th, two frigates, one English and one French, 
were dispatched from Beicos Bay to open by force the Sulineh 
Mouth (which is the middle mouth) of the Danube. 

MEASURES TAKEN BY ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 

On the 12th of March, 1854, the Emperor Nicholas vouch¬ 
safed to the terms proposed by the Western powers, this me¬ 
morable reply: 11 That those terms required not Jive minutes' con * 
sideration .” He, in fact, rejected them with contempt; and an¬ 
nounced to his own ministers and great officers that, before he 
submitted to such conditions, he would sacrifice his last soldier, 
and spend his last rouble. While this haughty decision, the 
general purport of which the electric-wires sent flashing at once 
through all Europe, was borne to London and Paris by the 
over-land couriers, the French and English troops began, 
though very gradually, to muster in force at Gallipoli. Jt was 
no considerable time before they had assembled on tb* little 


FINANCIAL CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 


33 


peninsula to the west of the Dardanelles about 14,000 French 
and about 7000 English troops. The French had a shorter 
voyage to make ; but then they had more soldiers, more mate¬ 
rials of war, and more provisions to transport. They arrived 
the first 

It was on the 11th of March that the Baltic fleet, under Sir 
Charles Napier, sailed from Spithead; a noble fleet of sixteen 
war-steamers, of which eight were line-of-battle, two being 
three-deckers, and three carrying admiral’s flags. Another 
great division was preparing to follow. 

On the 27th of March, the formal rupture between Turkey 
and Greece occurred. The Greek envoy, General Metaxes, 
receiving, on that day, his passports at Constantinople. The 
Sultan had sent whatever troops he could spare to the frontier 
of Thessaly, under Achmet Pacha, to oppose the inroads of the 
Greeks, who were endeavoring to organize a general insurrec¬ 
tion of their co-religionists all over the Turkish Empire; the 
foreign Greeks thus abetting against the Divan its Greek subjects , 
to the profit of Bussia. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 

Bussia had been for a considerable time husbanding her 
resources and preparing her means for some unusual exertion. 
In 1853, she had freed herself from the annual interest of cer¬ 
tain old loans, by paying up the principal. She then withdrew 
the sums placed in the public stock of France and England; 
issued treasury bills to meet the current expenses; and pro¬ 
hibited the export of the precious metals from her own terri¬ 
tory. The ordinary revenue of Bussia would, perhaps, be 
£32,000,000 ; but, allowing for the inevitable abatement caused 
by war in the proceeds of the customs and excise, it can scarcely 
amount to £24,000,000 at present; while the expenditure is 
enormously and concurrently increased. No doubt the sums 
obtained just after the Hungarian war, under the plea of finish¬ 
ing the Moscow railway, were not yet exhausted when this 
vast conflict commenced. But the stress of it is evident, from 
the financial expedients to which the Czar presently resorted. 
He appropriated at once five millions sterling of the bullion 
which forms the basis of the paper money; and, at the same 
time, he issued four millions sterling of treasury bills. He also 
invited loans and accepted gifts (praising the patriotism of the 
latter) from various public funds, from the clergy, and from the 
charitable trusts of the empire; and when u the Dutch loan 7 ’ 
failed, he levied a forced loan, amounting to eight millions 
sterling, from his own subjects indiscriminately, and called it a 
3 


84 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


voluntary contribution. By these means he realized, in a year 
and a half; nearly thirty millions sterling. 

ACTIVE ENTRANCE OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE INTO THE WAR, 

The English and French expeditionary forces having landed 
in Turkey, and as it were set themselves down within reach 
of the enemy, with the exception of one vigorous blow struck 
by the fleet, had little to do with the war that was waging 
between Turkey and Russia, until the battles of the Crimea. 
In short, although dispatched in spring, they were not destined 
to engage the foe till autumn. 

BOMBARDMENT OF ODESSA. 

Before any thing was attempted against Odessa, some shots 
from the batteries had been aimed at an English flag of truce, 
(borne by the Fury.) Next day, the 28d, twelve war-steamers 
of both nations were detached from the fleet, and sent within 
range of shot; the order being to spare the town, if possible, 
but to destroy the batteries, the magazines, and the’vessels in 
the harbor. The order was scrupulously obeyed in the first 
particular, and executed with brilliant effect in the second. 
The detachment of steamers approached, accompanied by 
rocket-boats; these ventured further in, being a smaller mark 
for the land artillery, which dared not besides waste its fire 
short of the covering frigates and steamers. The boats having 
taken their station, the attacking detachment began a most 
singular and beautiful movement in file, tracking one the 
other’s wake with exquisite precision, along an ever-repeated 
circle; and as each vessel touched those points of her orbit 
which were nearest to the Russian batteries, she delivered her 
broadside, passing onwards, and made way for her successors 
in the revolving chain, until her own turn should come again. 
The ever-returning evolution of these graceful ministers of a 
memorable act of vengeance seemed, in the distance, to be 
performing a sort of wild waltz together, as they laid low the 
fortifications of the proud Russian seaport. In the midst of the 
action, one of the French steamers, struck by a red-hot shot 
through the hull, caught fire, and returned for a brief space to 
the fleet, to have assistance in extinguishing the flames. This 
was very soon effected; and the wounded falcon hastened to 
take again her destructive place in what may be said to have 
resembled also the wheeling flight of some beautiful birds of 
prey, swooping at intervals, eaeh in its turn, upon the quarry. 

The ^efer^3 rorr V ^Vc ^ was at first very spirited, and 


PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE. 


35 


the Russians are described as having stood well to their guns; 
but in range these were inferior to the artillery of the ships , 
and, by sensible degrees, the fire of the garrison became slower 
At length two great powder-magazines of the Russians blew 
up in quick succession, while most of the batteries were dis¬ 
mounted, the forts knocked to pieces, and the ruins strewn 
with the bodies of the artillerymen. When the defenses were 
shattered into a shapeless rain, and the resistance of the Rus¬ 
sians had evidently ceased in despair, and when thirteen of the 
enemy’s ships, laden with munitions of war, had been captured, 
the Allied detachment drew slowly off, and rejoined the fleets. 
Their comrades who had, from the yards of the distant men-of- 
war, witnessed the action, descended now and welcomed them 
with shouts that might have been heard on shore. The offi¬ 
cers engaged have estimated the number of the enemy killed 
at about eight hundred or a thousand soldiers. The Allies 
had ten sailors wounded and five killed. Such was the bom¬ 
bardment of Odessa, on the 23d of March. 

Shortly afterwards, the loss of the Tiger (16 guns) occurred. 
She grounded at the Campagna Costazzi, near Odessa, in such 
a position that she could not use her batteries against the field 
artillery on shore. After a short fight she surrendered, and 
her crew (250) were all made orisoners, and carried to Odessa, 
where they were well treated. 

PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE BY LUDERS AND GORTCHAKOFF. 

It was about this epoch that Prince Dolgorouki, sent to 
Teheran to involve Persia in the Czar’s quarrel, struck the 
Seds Azim, or Prince Minister of the Shah, with a cane, to pun¬ 
ish his reluctance. The most imperative instructions had now 
come from St. Petersburg to the Russian generals in the 
Principalities, to effect some great exploit, at whatever cost. 

Ltiders had crossed the Danube at Galutz. He was in force, 
having 24£ battalions, 8 squadrons, 6 sotnias, and 64 guns. 
Gortchakoff, learning the fact of the passage so far down the 
river to the rear of his own left, determined to abandon for the 
present his disheartening operation against Turtukai and Rust- 
chuk, and to fly to the support of Liiders; thus imparting, he 
hoped, a decisive character to the advance of that enterprising 
general. By a retrograde circuit, he passed even beyond the 
rear of, Liiders’ left flank, and threw himself across the river a 
little above Tultscha, with 14 battalions, 16 squadrons, 6 
gotnias, and 44 guns. He brought with him more cavalry 
than Liiders, though a smaller general force ; and their united 
columns amounted to nearly 50,000 men. The reader is aware 


36 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


that Omer Pacha had decided not to dispute possession of the 
Upper Dobrudscha; and it is, therefore, nearly incomprehen 
sible, though stated in all the contemporary accounts of these 
operations, that Prince Gortcbakoff should have there taken 
eleven guns and 150 prisoners. This event took place about 
the 23d of March, the day of the bombardment of Odessa. 

On the same 23d of March, the Danube was forced by the 
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army of occupation ; the 
fortifications of Odessa were laid in ashes, and the Govern¬ 
ments of England and France agreed that they would at last 
publish in all form their acceptance of the Russian challenge. 

The divisions which had crossed the Danube continued their 
advance, taking Babadagh on the sea, and Hirsova on the 
river. All the Upper Dobrudscha, except Tultscha, was now 
occupied by the invaders ; and by April the 3d their Cossacks 
patrolled as far as Kustendjeh, which the Turks kept, and 
which was their grasp upon the sea, at the east of Trajan’s 
Wall. On the north shore of the Danube, the Turks retained 
nothing except Kalafat, two hundred miles to the west. 

The Russians, having seized Hirsova, spenf some time in 
preparing for a great attempt to pass Trajan’s Wall; but, 
though their Cossacks scoured the country down to the very 
ramparts of Kustendjeh, they found that they had selected a 
most difficult part of the Turkish line to force; and at Czerna 
voda, on the 25th of April, more than five weeks after General 
Liiders crossed the Danube, at Galatz, and nearly a month 
after the second Russian column had followed near Tultscha 
to his support, their united divisions were taught a severe 
lesson. The Turks, at that place—which is some five miles to 
the south of Trajan’s Wall—once more checked the Russian 
advance; and, in a sharp action, repulsed the enemy with 
considerable loss. The avenues by which the, Russians en¬ 
deavored to penetrate from the Dobrudscha were defended for 
about seven weeks; during which time, the invaders—being 
locked up amid the marshes of the worst district of the whole 
Turkish territory in Europe—suffered incomparably more 
from ague, fever, cholera, and privations, than they suffered in 
the field. It must not be supposed that this advance along 
the coast against Omer Pacha’s right wing was an isolated 
movement. On the contrary, it was part of a very large com¬ 
bination, which Marshal Paskiewitch, Prince of Erivan, was, 
on the 8th of April, summoned from Poland to superintend in 
person, and in which the famous General of Engineers, Schild- 
ers, was to take an eminent part. General Liiders’ instructions 
were to press forward at whatever cost, and to interpose betw**\ 
Varna and Silistria . 


KUSSIANS ATTACKING A BATTEKY 















































































SIEGE OF SILISTRIA. 


37 


SIEGE OF SILISTRIA. 

So early as the 14th, great batteries had been erected on the 
north bank of the Danube, opposite Silistria; and the town was 
bombarded from morning till night; and the Russians now be¬ 
gan to show themselves in force on both banks of the Danube, 
near and around that fatal fortress. On the 28th of April, the 
Russians, being completely established on the south bank, at¬ 
tacked the outworks of Silistria. On the same day, one hun¬ 
dred miles to the west, at Nicopolis, Sali Dacha had a battle with 
the Russians, who had neglected all the country lying to their 
right, because they were endeavoring to envelop Silistria in 
every direction, and they thought they had excluded the west¬ 
ern or left wing of the Turkish army from the real business 
then in hand. Sali Pacha defeated the enemy, killing nearly 
2000 of them. In conformity with their usual strategy, strag¬ 
gling and indecisive, the Russians, at the same time they were 
thus endeavoring to force the Danube from Turna, tried also to 
exhibit themselves in apparent strength at Radowan, nearly 
sixty miles to the right. Suleiman Bey, whose rank was that 
of a colonel, stormed Radowan, and had the glory of beating 
the invaders with almost as much slaughter in this place as 
Sali Pacha had inflicted on them at Nicopolis and Turna. But 
these reverses of the Russian right might have been expected, 
when they were weakening it in order to strengthen the divi¬ 
sions destined by them to take Silistria. The assault on the 
outworks was so hotly received, that full three weeks elapsed 
before General Schilders had completed the investment. On 
the adverse shore he piled up batteries of heavy guns, which 
maintained a continual bombardment; and with those guns he 
left his portable hospitals (or ambulances) and his reserves. 
The forces which he transported over the Danube to form the 
actual leaguer, were not less than 53,000 men, while the garri¬ 
son mustered 8000 only. His artillery, which «v r as numerous 
and heavy, has been variously computed. Probably the most 
effective batteries were those which he directed against the 
south-west fronts; and here, indeed, the fire was severe and 
terrible. On this side the ground rises in a series of platforms, 
which could not be surrendered to the enemy with safety to the 
town. They were occupied, therefore, by outworks which were 
all-important * for, on the day when they were taken, Silistria 
was virtually taken. The outworks were called respectively Arab 
Tabia and Illanli. They were of earth. The Turkish artillery 
protecting them was repeatedly silenced; the walls behind them 
were repeatedly breached ; but, burrowing in the cavities of that 
redoubt, the indomitable defenders waited only till the thunder 


58 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


of the guns had ceased, and till the tramp of the storming 
columns made the ground about to tremble, when they appeared 
swarming out of the bowels of the earth, and—dagger in hand, 
rather than sword in hand—flung themselves upon the assail¬ 
ants. The Russians, in these great assaults-—which, as the siege 
progressed, were conducted in larger and larger force, com¬ 
mitted one of the most incredible military blunders on record. 
•They advanced in heavy costume, and even with their knapsacks 
on their shoulders. They met those, therefore, who soon neutral¬ 
ized and reversed the effects of General Schilder’s artillery. 
The slaughter on these occasions, (and from May the 11th to 
June the 29th they were numerous,) is hardly to be believed. 
Always bearing in mind this species of inter-act, we may 
describe. in one sentence nearly a month’s operations before 
Silistria: to wit, k was alternately bombarded and assaulted. 
Armed only with their temperance and their fanaticism, the small 
Turkish garrison flinched not for a moment. As the earth¬ 
works were damaged, it was necessary to repair them;- and as 
the Russians mined, (a last resource,) it was indispensable to 
countermine. Enormous hardships and evident risks were 
to be encountered in these duties. For the most part, the 
patient Osmandi displayed the spirit of a true soldier. As he 
smoked, or rather sucked, a pipe in which there was no longer 
any tobacco, (the facts have been witnessed,) he lay at the bot¬ 
tom of a trench watching with envy, the better-supplied com¬ 
rade whose tarbooch rose above the level of the margin— 
because that comrade worked with the spade, and was there¬ 
fore on his legs. A cannon-ball sweeps away the red cap and 
the head within it. The incumbent spectator arises, saying 
that “ Allah is great!” He takes the spade from the yet warm 
hand, disengages the nargilly from the clenched teeth, and fills 
the brief vacancy—his own tarbooch now surmounting the 
clay embankment. Soon, the place is again vacant, and a suc¬ 
cessor equally intrepid and equally serene, continues the exca¬ 
vation ; and in ten minutes, it has thus taken, as it were, three 
generations of valiant Osmanlis to fortify one soldier’s post in 
a bombarded intrenchment, and, while doing so, to smoke one 
pipeful of Latakia tobacco. 

On the 11th of May, Silistria itself was assaulted, the assail¬ 
ants were beaten and lost more than 2000 men. Meanwhile 
the works were incessantly advanced. On the 21st of May, 
another general assault was repulsed. On the 26th of May, 
the left wing, being now an isolated division of Omer Pacha’s 
force, felt its way eastward to Turna, Semnitra, and Giurgevo, 
in all which places it found and severely defeated the enemy 
On the 29th of May, a very fatal day to choose for a contest 


SIEGE OF SILISTRIA. 


39 


with, the Mussulmans, (it being the anniversary of the Turkish 
conquest of Constantinople,) Prince Gortchakoff and General 
Schilders ordered a combined assault upon the south and west 
of Silistria. Thirty thousand were used in the attack, and the 
loss was near five thousand. Two days after the assault, the 
outflanking left wing of the Ottoman army had pushed to 
Slatina, and there had won another victory; and, indeed, on 
the previous day, the day immediately following the great as¬ 
sault upon Silistria, they had fought a battle at Karakal, had 
taken six field-pieces and had slain three thousand Russians. 

On the 4th of June, Omer Pacha put 30,000 men in action, 
and ordered them to dp something for Silistria. On that same 
day he commanded his garrison at Rustchuk to try their for¬ 
tune against the Russian works on the Island of Mokan; and 
the works were completely destroyed. A detachment of the 
column dispatched to the relief of Silistria, entered it on the 
5th, partly stealing, partly breaking through the Russian lines. 
Mehemet Pacha led this reinforcement. Some of the succoring 
force were repulsed and shut out; but they remained near, 
watching for the next sally. It took place exactly three days 
afterward, on the 8th of June. It was by night; and then, 
over a thousand Russian corpses, about a thousand more of 
the Turkish troops entered Silistria. On the 13th, a still more 
tremendous sortie was effected. Three Russian mines were 
sprung during the conflict, all their works were destroyed, and 
the carnage was enormous. At last an end was put to tbi3 
desolating enterprise. A grand assault was ordered for the 
28th of June. The Russian soldiers had now been eleven 
months in the provinces of Turkey, and had never yet seen a 
Turk’s back. They had known nothing but disaster, unvaried 
even by an episode of success; and when ordered on the 28th 
to the breaches, stood doggedly in their ranks. Prince Gort- 
schakoff, in alarm, adjourned the attack until the next day. 
Next day came. Silistria “ must be taken.” Repulsed twice 
from the defense, they hesitated to obey when once more 
ordered to advance. Upon this, Count Orloff, General Schil 
ders, General Gortchakoff, and General Liiders placed them¬ 
selves at the head of the men, crying to these to follow, while 
Prince Paskiewitch rode up to the spot and addressed them partly 
with reproaches and partly with encouragements. The assault 
was unsuccessfully renewed, and a murderous carnage took 
place. General Schilders, not again destined to take a fortress, 
the • capture of which twenty-five years before had been the 
commencement of his reputation, was struck by a cannon-ball, 
which carried off his thighs. General Liiders had his jaw 
struck away; Count Orloff was killed; General Gortchakofl 


40 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


was severely, and Prince Paskiewitch desperately, wounded, 
The Turks had not only repelled the assault, but had pursued 
the assailants up to their very batteries. Some of the relieving 
column outside had meanwhile alarmed and disordered the 
Russians in the rear. This practically terminated the siege; 
for the garrison was again succored during the confusion of the 
engagement, ani the Russian works were so damaged, that 
they would have all to be recommenced. Mussa Pacha, struck 
by a spent ball, died of the hurt in a few hours. Such wa? 
this memorable siege of Silistria, which might be compared 
with that of Saragossa for the bravery of the defense. It was 
estimated that, from first to last, the Russians lost, under or 
near the walls of Silistria, 30,000 men. 

They now re-crossed the river, so thoroughly demoralized, 
that, had there been a sufficient force to pursue them, they must 
have either laid down their arms or been annihilated. They 
retreated from every point towards Fokshani and Birlat, eva¬ 
cuating not only Lesser but Greater Wallachia. Skender Beg, 
and some of the other Turkish chiefs who commanded in the 
south-west of the Principalities, pursued the enemy at leisure 
beyond the Aluta. It was only in the Upper Dobrudscha 
that the Czar now held any portion of the further bank of the 
Danube. 

The Allies had meantime assembled, to the number of about 
50,000, in Yarna and the neighboring camps ; and, as the cam- 
oaign was finished upon the Danube, they began to meditate 
some other expedition ; and, after many councils of war, it was 
secretly decided to invade the Crimea, and to attack Sebasto¬ 
pol. Siege-trains were ordered from England and France, 
transports were prepared, and every thing gradually provided. 
But the cholera attacked both the armies and the fleets, which 
for two months lay prostrate undbr this dreadful scourge. It 
cost the English at least 700 men ; the French, including those 
who perished in the fatal excursion through the marshes of the 
Dobrudscha, must have lost more than 4000. It was in July 
that the greatest mortality occurred; and the corps which suf¬ 
fered most was that of Generals Canrobert and Espinasse, at 
the bivouac of Kavarlik, near Kustendjeh—the Zouaves being 
more than decimated. When Khan Mirza, on the 23d July, 
allowed himself to be surprised at Karassu, by the retiring 
Russians, General Youssouf took his fine corps forward; and 
in that one long march 1500 dropped down and died, without 
counting the regular daily losses. The Austrians, who had 
seemed constantly on the point of joining the Allies, but with¬ 
out ever really joining them, and who were expected to aid the 
Turks, but never did, now began to muster in large numbers 


OPERATIONS IN THE BALTIC. 


41 


along the coniines of Transylvania. Daring the next month 
the discomfited columns of the Czar were all behind the Sereth, 
and Prince Gortchakoff had been borne in litters to Jassy. 
General Dannenberg assumed the chief command of the routed 
forces. Numerous vacancies had rendered his promotion 
rapid ; and Prince Dolgorouki, who had returned from Persia, 
was dispatched by Nicholas from St. Petersburg to investigate 
the cause of so many and such huge calamities. On the 22d 
of August, Omer Pacha, seated in an open carriage, with Can- 
tacuzene, (a name recalling old Byzantine recollections,) made 
his triumphal entry into Bucharest. He published a concilia¬ 
tory proclamation, and the Sultan decreed an amnesty for all 
treasons committed during a time of terror and military 
coercion. In the beginning of the following month, the Rus¬ 
sian head-quarters were removed from Jassy, and withdrawn 
behind the Pruth. The expulsion of the invaders was com¬ 
plete, the campaign was finished, and then, and not till then, 
Count Coronini and his Austrians entered the Principalities, 
11 to protect ,” they said, a territory which had been effectually 
protected by its own lawful owners, and which these obliging 
strangers had, in no one particular, assisted in defending. 

Such was the glorious Danubian campaign, from its com¬ 
mencement to its close. 

OPERATIONS IN THE BALTIC. 

Meantime, tne Allied fleets had been active in the Baltic, 
the French division having passed through the Channel to join 
Admiral Napier so early as the 23d of April. It consisted of 
twenty-five sail, nine being ships of the line, and, with the 
English squadrons, made the whole a fleet of about sixty- 
seven vessels of war. The navigation of the northern waters 
was not universally practicable till the middle or end of May ; 
and, even when it was, not much was effected, beyond the 
blockade of the Russian navy, which shrank behind granite 
fortresses; and the reconnoissance and study of the various 
maritime strongholds of the Czar along those seas. On the 
20th, a gallant exploit was performed at Hango, two Russian 
ships being cut out from under the very guns. On the 80th, 
Brahestadt was bombarded; and the next day Uleaborg was 
destroyed. Prizes of not much importance continued to be sent 
home. But on the 20th of next month a check was sustained 
in attempting to land at Gamba Karleby, where the Allies 
were repulsed, with the loss of fifty-four men, killed or miss¬ 
ing. Shortly afterward the greater part of the fleet—fifty-one 
sail, in fact- -were assembled in Baro Sound ; and the French 


42 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


and English Admirals pressed their respect ve governments to 
send them a military force. This was made ready with great 
energy by the Emperor Napoleon; and 25,000 French troops, 
under the command of Baraguay d’Hilliers, sailed in the begin¬ 
ning of August, on board English ships, for the Isles of Aland, 
which lie across the mouth of the Gulf of Bothnia, half-way 
between Stockholm and Wirmo, in Finland. The soldiers 
were landed in company with a body of our marines, and 
under the protection of the united fleets. The nature of the 
soil obliged them to use earth-bags for their batteries ; and in 
one battery alone there were 15,000 such bags. The conoidal 
rifle-balls of the French sharp-shooters soon drove the Russian 
artillerymen from their casemates, while the walls were 
breached both by sea and land. The Leopard threw one hun¬ 
dred and twenty-pound shot from a distance of 2500 yards; and 
it was afterward ascertained that thirty-pound or forty-pound 
shot will, at a distance of 500 yards, breach granite works. 
The roof of the principal fort was of iron, and underneath the 
roof there were six feet deep of sand, then granite. This rooi 
was torn to pieces in a few hours. On the 15th of August, 
General Bodisco, having lost his two subsidiary forts, sur¬ 
rendered, with two thousand prisoners, who were sent at once 
to England and to France. The forts were then destroyed; 
and such was the new and sudden mistrust which the Russians 
conceived of their boasted defenses, that they themselves blew 
up, a few days afterward, the fortifications of Hango. 


BATTLES OF THE CRIMEA. 


There is a terrible romance in War. We may deprecate it 
as the worst of evils, but there is an indescribable fascination 
in its bloody records. Of this we have striking evidence in 
the eagerness with which every account of the progress of the 
war now raging in the Crimea, between the Allies on one side 
and Russia on the other, is sought after and read. The details 
of the crimson fields of the Alma, Balaklava, and last and 
bloodiest of all, Inkermann, are pored over with the most 
absorbing interest. To satisfy this natural curiosity, we 
present a condensed and graphic history of those fiercely 
contested battles, with as many of their wild, romantic, and 
thrilling incidents as can be obtained from the best sources of 
information, all of the accounts being from eye-witnesses of, 
and participators in, the terrible scenes described. 

><► 

INVASION OF THE CRIMEA. 

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CRIMEA. 

The Crimea is a large peninsula lying in the northern por¬ 
tion of the Black Sea, the larger portion being north of the 
parallel of 45°, and connected with continental Russia by a 
narrow neck of land only a few miles in width. It is the 
southernmost province of Russia, about the size of the State of 
Massachusetts, and its population, though considerable in the 
aggregate, sparsely scattered over the country. Its valleys are 
rich and fruitful; its climate favorable for a great variety of 
products; and under a good system of cultivation and a good 
government would be one of the finest countries in the world. 

The Crimea was invaded and conquered by the Tartars in 
1226, except some important points on the southern coast 
which were held by the Genoese, who had founded several 



44 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


towns and earned on an extensive commerce. In 1473, the 
Turks drove the Genoese out of the Crimea, and the Tartars 
became the vassals of the Porte. In 1771, Russia, which had 
long coveted this beautiful country, interfered with a large 
army, to place a Tartar prince on the throne, drove out the 
Turks, and in 1783 the Russian dominion was fully established. 

CONCENTRATION OF THE ALLIED TROOPS. 

The troops of the Allies, about 50,000 in all, which had 
been lying in a state of inactivity, near Constantinople, during 
the summer, were concentrated at Yarna, a port of Bulgaria, 
on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, in the latter part of 
August. They had suffered severely from disease, and the 
cholera was especially fatal. Great joy was therefore diffused 
throughout the combined army when it was announced that 
the expedition to the Crimea had been determined upon. 
Any thing was preferable to remaining where they were; and 
in their imagination every fresh battle-field was to be the 
theatre of new victories. To invade the Crimea was a holiday 

E astime; to take Sebastopol, the work of a single daring, 
eart-stirring assault. 

THE EMBARKATION AND VOYAGE. 

On the 4th of September, the British transports, in tow of 
steamers, set sail from Yarna to join the French and Turkish 
fleets at Baltsckik Bay, the place of general rendezvous, 
whence the whole armada, numbering more than a hundred 
vessels, exclusive of the regular war-ships, proceeded north¬ 
east to the coast of the Crimea. The French numbered 
25,000, the English the same, and there was a picked corps 
of about 8000 Turks, exclusive of sailors and marines, thou¬ 
sands of whom participated in the siege of Sebastopol. Though 
the distance is not much above a hundred miles, the com¬ 
bined fleet did not reach Eupatoria, the landing point deter¬ 
mined upon, until the 14th. Eupatoria is a town of 8000 
inhabitants, situated on a low promontory, about forty miles 
from Sebastopol, with a low, flat country in the distance. To¬ 
wards noon the ships of the expedition closed in with the 
shore, and a grander sight, says an eye-witness, was never 
seen at sea. A line of lights extended along the whole coast, 
and when, as signal, the Banshee lighted a blue-light, the effect 
was magnificent. The bulwarks of Old England, surrounded 
by the imposing number of transports, rose faintly in the dis¬ 
tance ; whilst, in our immediate vicinity, a formidable row of 


THE LANDING. 


45 


line-of-battle ships, including the flag-ship Britannia, stood out 
boldly, in the majesty of their proportions, the largest spar and 
the tiniest rope emerging from the darkness of night. The 
blue-light once extinguished, and all sank into the shade ; and 
who would have guessed, amidst the surrounding tranquillity, 
that here was assembled the most imposing armada that ever 
cleft the seas, bearing the strength, the pride, and the hopes of 
three empires? 

A flag of truce was sent off from the Allied generals and the 
garrison invited to lay down their arms. The head of the 
place, a sort of civil governor or mayor, replied that there was 
no garrison and consequently no arms to lay down, but that 
the Allies would be allowed to occupy the place without moles¬ 
tation from the inhabitants, who trusted in turn to receive 
good treatment. The governor then delivered up his official 
sword with a low and formal bow, the officer returned with the 
trophy, and preparations were made to occupy the place. 

THE LANDING. 

On the 14th, the English and French infantry were landed, 
and so admirable had been the arrangements, that the work was 
accomplished with great expedition and without serious acci¬ 
dent of any kind. A boat-load of sixteen Frenchmen were the 
first to land, who immediately planted a flag-staff, surmounted 
with the tri-color, on a neighboring eminence, and saluted it 
with a discharge of fire-arms. Early on the following day 
preparations were made to land the cavalry and artillery. The 
process of disembarkation was effected in barges in tow of 
man-of-war boats, which, on approaching the shore, dropped 
anchor and allowed themselves to be washed forward by the 
surf. The anchor’s rope was but very gradually let out, in 
order for the barge to approach stern forward. At the moment 
she was about to strike, a dozen sailors—chiefly, if not all, 
crews of merchantmen—dashed into the water, and seizing her 
ropes, dragged her high up on the beach, with all the strange 
cries and noisy energy peculiar to sailors on shore. A flap 
hanging on to the stern then formed a platform, over which 
the cannon landed, and where the horses were coaxed to pass. 
To land the latter was rather a difficult task; for the poor ani¬ 
mals, notwithstanding their long imprisonment on board ship, 
one and all declined to walk the plank, although terra firma 
was the reward. By dint of pushing and pulling, the sailors 
managed to land the horses, and this part of the. programme 
seemed to afford them immense delight. It certainly enabled 
them to display that equestrian science and profound knowledge 


46 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


of horse-flesh which, as every body knows, is characteristic of 
the naval profession. If now and then a horse would roll 
off the plank over into the water, it was unfortunate; but this 
certainly did not occur more than three times out of six. The 
only result was a ducking for man and horse, which did neither 
any harm. The horse would have a comfortable roll on the 
dry sand, and join his place in the rank. But if, as sometimes 
would occur, a stiff artilleryman, with a straggling moustache, 
missed his footing, and fell plump into the water, then matters 
became tragic. The surrounding sailors and his very comrades 
would burst out into that delicate and pleasant laugh peculiar 
to Englishmen ; whilst the sympathizing crowd on the beach, 
composed of English, French, and native Tartars, would re¬ 
echo the jeer, and welcome the poor wight to Russian ground. 
If the sea presented a lively scene, it was certainly surpassed 
by the land. Here the small breadth of space was crowded 
by a busy throng. Artillerymen collecting their horses, officers 
cantering up and down, inspecting the landing, foot soldiers 
going to fetch water—all were mixed up with a miscellaneous 
crowd of lookers-on. How a troop of horses would pass to 
collect forage, or a body of native Algerians return from a 
successful razzia of cattle and odd-looking country cars. The 
beach was lined with bathers, mixed up in a delicious equality, 
the dashing hussar breasting the same wave as the mild looking 
man of the line, or a small drummer-boy. Then on shore were 
groups of French soldiers calmly looking at the scene, and 
ejaculating a good-humored sacre when jostled by a too ener¬ 
getic sailor. Some of the soldiers were endeavoring to open a 
conversation with the natives, whom this unexpected invasion 
had surprised. Although the conversations in themselves 
were limited, they were successful in making both parties 
laugh and r shake hands. The native Tartar—of course, not 
one Russian, the dominant race, dare show himself—has much 
resemblance with the Turk. His religion, language, and 
mental development are the same ; his costume alone is differ¬ 
ent. The Russians have done their utmost to transform him 
into a Russian peasant. The turban and flowing garment have 
been proscribed in favor of the brimless lamb-skin hat and 
shapeless gown, but through this disguise the Tartar face is 
recognizable. The arrival of the Allies has given them much 
satisfaction, which they openly express. One man came from his 
village to say that two Russian families of great wealth were 
preparing to leave, and demanded a few soldiers to be sent to 
arrest them. The soldiers and sailors were on the best of terms 
with them, as I have already observed. Probably from igno¬ 
rance of their family names, and fearful that this trifling cir- 


MARCH TO THE ALMA. 


47 


curnat&Ti<?e might interrupt their cordiality, the inhabitants 
have been indiscriminately christened by the soldiers by the 
name of Joey. Consequently, if a slow, native Tartar lies in 
danger of being run over by a hasty dragoon, he is requested 
to “ Look out for your eye, Joeyand should another hesitate 
to take British coin in payment for an unripe melon, he meets 
the reproach of “ You are an ass, Joey.” Joey Tartar has 
therefore become as historical a character as Jonny Frenchman 
or John Turk. 

For two days after the landing the rain fell incessantly, and 
as neither officers nor troops were yet provided with tents or 
other means of shelter, their state of discomfort may be imagined. 
Many who had been accustomed only to the genteelest lodging 
were thankful for a blanket, and found themselves in a puddle 
of water on awaking in the morning. Sir George Brown slept 
the first night under a bullock-wagon, which, under the circum¬ 
stances, might be considered a rather aristocratic bed-chamber. 

MARCH TO THE ALMA. 

Early on the morning of the 19th September, 30,000 sleepers 
were woke to life by the beating of the reveille, and made 
hasty preparation to obey the order for the march for the Alma. 
The French occupied the right, the English the left, and 7000 
Turkish infantry marched along the sea-side. The combined 
forces extended seven or eight miles. The right wing they 
covered by the fleet, which moved in magnificent order, darken¬ 
ing the air with dense columns of smoke, and within range of 
the Russians for two miles inland. 

The troops presented a splendid appearance. The effect of 
these grand masses of soldiery, descending the ridges of the 
hills rank after rank, with the sun playing over forests of glit¬ 
tering steel, can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. 
Onward the torrent of war swept; wave after wave, huge 
stately billows of armed men, while the rumble of artillery and 
tramp of cavalry accompanied their progress. At last, the 
smoke of burning villages and farm-houses announced that the 
enemy in front were aware of our march. It was a sad sight 
to see the white walls of the houses blackened with smoke, the 
flames ascending through the roofs of peaceful homesteads, and 
the ruined outlines of deserted hamlets. Many sick men fell 
out, and were carried to the rear. It was a painful sight; a sad 
contrast to the magnificent appearance of the army in front, to 
behold litter after litter borne past to the rear, with the poor 
sufferers who had dropped from illness and fatigue. 

Presently, from the top o' 1 a hill, a wide plain was visible, 


48 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


beyond which rose a ridge, darkened here and there by masses, 
which the practised eye recognized as cavalry. It was the first 
sight of the enemy. On the left of the plain, up in a recess 
formed by the inward sweep of the two ridges, lay a large vil¬ 
lage in flames; right before the advancing army was a neat 
white house unburned, though the out-houses and farm-yard 
were burning. This was the imperial post-house of Bouljanak, 
just twenty miles from Sebastopol. 

The Cossacks hovered on the outskirts of the Allies, and the 
skirmishers were often compelled to face about to repel their 
attacks. Meantime, they had advanced within range of the 
enemy’s guns, whose shots ploughed up the English cavalry. 
After receiving some thirty rounds, the English returned the 
fire of the Russians, who were soon compelled to disperse in 
broken lines. The French, meantime, surprised a body of 
Russian cavalry with a round from a battery of nine-pounders 
and scattered them in all directions. Four men and six horses 
were lost on the side of the Allies in these skirmishes. Night 
was approaching, and the combined armies bivouacked on the 
left bank of the Bouljanak, a small stream not far from the 
Alma, the lines of the Allies extending for several miles. On 
the heights of the Alma slumbered the main body of the Rus¬ 
sians, numbering some 45,000 men. Did the opposing hosts 
dream of the fierce combat of the morrow ? 


THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 

Prince Menchikoff had well chosen his position. A re¬ 
markable ridge of mountain, varying in height from 500 to 700 
feet, runs along the course of the Alma on the left or south 
side, with the course of the stream, and assuming the form of 
cliffs when close to the sea. This ridge is marked all along its 
course by deep gullies, which run toward the river at various 
angles, and serve no doubt to carry off the floods produced by 
the rains and the melting of the winter-snows on the hills and 
table-lands above. At the top of the ridges, between the gul¬ 
lies, the Russians had erected earth-work batteries, mounted 
with thirty-two and twenty-four pound brass guns, supported 
by numerous field-pieces and howitzers. These guns enfiladed 
the tops of the ravines parallel to them, or swept them to the 
base, while the whole of the sides up which an enemy, unable 1 
to endure the direct fire of the batteries, would be forced to 
ascend, were filled with masees of skirmishers armed with an 
excellent two-groove rifle, throwing a large solid conical ball 


BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 


49 


with force, at 700 and 800 yards, as the French learnt to theii 
cost. The principal battery consisted of an earth-work of the 
form of two sides of a triangle, with the apex pointed toward 
the bridge, and the sides covering both sides of the stream, 
corresponding with the bend in the river below it, at the dis¬ 
tance of 1000 yards, while, wkh a fair elevation, the thirty- 
two-pounders threw beyond the houses of the village to the 
distance of 1400 and 1500 yards. This was constructed on the 
brow of a hill, about 600 feet above the river, but the hill rose 
behind it for another 50 feet before it dipped away toward the 
road. The ascent of the hill was enfiladed by the fire of three 
batteries of earth-work on the right, and by another on the left, 
and these batteries were equally capable of covering the vil¬ 
lage, the stream, and the slopes which led up the hill to their 
position. 

Against the face of these heights, thus defended, was the 
attack of the Allies to be made. Early in the morning the 
troops were ordered to get in readiness, and at half-past six 
o’clock they were in motion. It was a lovely day; the heat 
of the sun was tempered by a sea-breeze. The fleet was visible 
at a distance of four miles, covering the ocean as it was seen 
between the hills, and the steamers on the right as close to the 
shore as possible. 

The Generals St. Arnaud, Bosquet, and Forey, attended by 
their staff, rode along in front of the lines, with Lord Raglan 
and his generals, at second halt, and were received with tre¬ 
mendous cheering. 

The whole line of the Allies extended five or six miles. The 
action became general at 1.45 on the part of the French and 
Turks, who carried the heights on the right. Meantime, the 
French steamers in shore commenced throwing shells on the 
height occupied by the Russians in front. The shell could be 
seen falling over the batteries of the Russians, and bursting 
right into them; and then the black masses inside the works 
broke into little specks, which flew about in all directions, and 
when the smoke cleared away, there were some to be seen 
strewed over the ground. The Russians answered the ships 
from the heights, but without effect. A powder-tumbril was 
blown up by a French shell; another shell fell by accident into 
an ambuseade which the Russians had prepared for the advanc¬ 
ing French, and at last they drew off from the sea-side, and 
confined their efforts to the defense of the gullies and heights, 
beyond the fire of the heavy guns of the steamers. 

At one o’clock the French columns were seen struggling up 
the hills, covered by a cloud of skirmishers, whose fire seemed 
most deadly. Once, at sight of a threatening mass of Russian 
3 


50 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


infantry m a commanding position above them, who fired 
rapid vollies among them, the French paused, but it was only 
to collect their skirmishers; for as soon as they had formed, they 
ran up the hill at the pas de charge, and broke the Eussians at 
once, who fled in disorder, with loss, up the hill. Men could 
be seen dropping on both sides, and the wounded rolling down 
the steep. At 1.50, the English line of skirmishers got within 
range of the battery on the hill, and immediately the Eussians 
opened fire at 1200 yards with effect, the shot ploughing through 
the open lines of the riflemen, and falling into the advancing 
columns behind. 

Shortly ere this time, dense volumes of smoke rose from the 
river, and drifted along to the eastward, rather interfering with 
the view of the enemy on the left of the English position. 
The Eussians had set the village on fire. It was a fair exercise 
of military skill—was well executed—took place at the right 
time, and succeeded in occasioning a good deal of annoyance. 
The English troops halted when they neared this village, their 
left extending beyond it by the verge of the stream; their 
right be}mnd the burning cottages, and within range of the 
batteries. The Eussians opened a furious fire on the whole of 
the English line, but the French had not yet made progress 
enough to justify them in advancing. The round shot whizzed 
in every direction, dashing up the dirt and sand into the faces 
of the staff of Lord Eaglan, who were also shelled severely, 
and attracted much of the enemy’s fire. Still Lord Eaglan 
waited patiently for the development of the French attack. 
At length an aide-de-camp came to him, and reported that the 
French had crossed the Alma, but they had not established 
themselves sufficiently to justify an attack. The infantry were, 
therefore, ordered to lie down, and the army, for a short time, 
was quite passive, only that the artillery poured forth an un¬ 
ceasing fire of shell, rockets, and round shot, which ploughed 
through the Eussians, and caused them great loss. They did 
not waver, however, and replied to the English artillery man¬ 
fully, their shot falling among the men as they lay, and carry¬ 
ing off legs and arms at every round. Lord Eaglan at last gave 
orders for the whole line to advance. Up rose these serried 
masses, and passing through a fearful shower of round, case 
shot and shell, they dashed into the Alma, and “floundered” 
through the waters, which were literally torn into foam by the 
deadly hail. At the other side of the river, were a number ot 
vineyards, which were occupied by Eussian riflemen. Three 
of the staff were here shot down; but led by Lord Eaglan, in 
person, cheering on the men, they advanced. 

And now came the turning point of the battle. Lord Eag 


BATTLE OF THE ALMA, 


51 


Ian dashed over the bridge, followed by his staff. From the 
road over it, under the Russian guns, he saw the state of the 
action. The British line, which he had ordered to advance, 
was struggling through the river and up the heights in 
masses, firm indeed, but mowed down by the murderous fire 
of the batteries, and by grape, round shot, shell, canister, case 
shot, and musketry, from some of the guns of the central bat¬ 
tery, and from an immense and compact mass of Russian in¬ 
fantry. 

Then commenced one of the most bloody and determined 
struggles in the annals of war. The 2d Division, led by Sir 
D. Evans, in the most dashing manner, crossed the stream on 
the right. The 7th Fusileers, led by Colonel Yea, were swept 
down by fifties. The 55th, 80th, and 95th, led by Brigadier 
Pennefather, who was in the thickest of the fight, cheering on 
his men, again and again were checked indeed, but never drew 
back in their onward progress, which was marked by a fierce 
roll of Minie musketry; and Brigadier Adams, with the 41st, 
y 47th, and 49th, bravely charged up the hill, and aided them in 
the battle. Sir George Brown, conspicuous on a gray horse, 
rode in front of his Light Division, urging them with voice 
and gesture. Gallant fellows, they were worthy of such a 
gallant chief. The 7th, diminished by one half, fell back to 
re-form their columns lost for the time; the 23d, with eight 
officers dead and four wounded, were still rushing to the front, 
aided by the 88th, 83d, 78th, and 15th. Down went Sir George 
in a cloud of dust in front of the battery. He was soon up, and 
shouted, “ Twenty-third, I’m all right. Be sure I’ll remember 
this day,” and led them on again; but in the shock produced 
by the fall of their chief, the gallant regiment suffered terri¬ 
bly, while paralyzed for a moment. Meantime the guards 
on the right of the Light Division, and the Brigade of 
Highlanders, were storming the heights on the left. Their line 
was almost as regular as though they were in Hyde Park. 
Suddenly a tornado of round and grape rushed through from 
the terrible battery, and a roar of musketry from behind thinned 
their front ranks by dozens. It was evident that they were 
just able to contend against the Russians, favored as they were 
by a great position. 

At this very time an immense mass of Russian infantry were 
seen moving down toward the battery. They halted. It was 
the crisis of the day. Sharp, angular, and solid, they looked 
as if they were cut out of the solid rock. It was beyond all 
doubt, that if our infantry, harassed and thinned as they were, 
got into the battery, they would have to encounter again a 
formidable fire, which they were but ill calculated to bear 


52 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


Lord Raglan saw the difficulties of the situation. He asked if 
it would be possible to get a couple of guns to bear on these 
masses. The reply was “ Yes,” and an artillery officer brought 
up two guns to fire on the Russian squares. The first shot 
missed, but the next, and the next, and the next cut through 
the ranks so cleanly, and so keenly, that a clear lane could be 
seen for a moment through the square. After a few rounds 
the columns of the square became broken, wavered to and fro, 
broke, and fled over the brow of the hill, leaving behind them 
six or seven distinct lines of dead, lying as close as possible to 
each other, marking the passage of the fatal messengers. This 
relieved the infantry of a deadly incubus, and they continued 
their magnificent and fearful progress up the hill. The Duke 
of Cambridge encouraged his men by voice and example. 
“ Highlanders,” said Sir C. Campbell, ere they came to the 
charge, “ I am going to ask a favor of you; it is, that you will 
act so as to justify me in asking permission of the Queen for 
you to wear a bonnet! Don’t pull a trigger till you’re within 
a yard of the Russians !” They charged, and well they obeyed 
their chieftain’s wish ; Sir Colin had his horse shot under him; 
but his men took the battery at a bound. The Russians 
rushed out, and left multitudes of dead behind them. The 
Guards had stormed the right of the battery ere the Highland¬ 
ers got into the left, and it is said the Scots Fusileer Guards 
were the first to enter. The Second and Light Division 
crowned the heights. The French turned the guns on the hill 
against the flying masses, which the cavalry in vain tried to 
cover. 

A few faint struggles from the scattered infantry, a few 
rounds of cannon and musketry, and the Russians fled to the 
south-east, leaving three generals, drums, three guns, 700 
prisoners, and 4000 wounded behind them. The battle of 
Alma was won, but it was won with a loss of nearly 3000 
killed and wounded on the side of the Allies, and three or four 
times that number on the part of the Russians. 

The Russians fled with precipitation towards Sebastopol, 
though in such order as to be able to carry off all but three of 
their guns, and the Allies remained masters of the field. The 
want of cavalry prevented pursuit by the victors, and chang¬ 
ing the order of retreat into a complete rout. As it was, 
Prince Menchikoff left his carriage on the field. 

THE HORRORS OF THE BATTLE-FIELD. 

It would be impossible to describe the frightful scene pre¬ 
sented in the square mile occupied by the Russian infantry 


HORRORS OF THE BATTLE-FIELD. 


53 


after tlie action. The greater part of the English killed and 
wounded were here, and there were at least five Eussians to 
every Englishman. One could not walk for the bodies. The 
most frightful mutilations the human body can suffer—the 
groans of the wounded—the packs, helmets, arms, clothes, 
scattered over the ground—all formed a scene that one could 
never forget. There, writhing in their gore—racked with the 
agony of every imaginable wound—famishing with thirst— 
chilled with the cold night air—the combatants lay indiscrimi¬ 
nately, no attempt being made to relieve their sufferings until 
the next day. 

On the morning of the 23d, as the Allied army was leaving 
the ground, a picture was presented which must for ever 
impress itself on the memory of those who beheld it. 

What is that gray mass on the plain, which seems settled 
down upon it almost without life or motion ? Now and then, 
indeed, an arm may be seen waved aloft, or a man raises him¬ 
self for a moment, looks around, and then lies down again. Alas I 
that plain is covered with the wounded Eussians still. Nearly 
sixty long hours have they passed in agony on the ground; 
and now, with but little hope of help or succor more, we must 
leave them as they lie. All this nameless, inconceivable misery 
—this cureless pain—to be caused by the caprice of one man ! 
Seven hundred and fifty wounded men are still upon the 

f round, and we can do nothing for them. Their wounds have 
een bound and dressed—we have done all we can for them— 
and now, unable as we are to take them along with us or to 
send them away, we must depart. Ere our troops marched, 
however, General Estcourt, by order of Lord Eaglan, sent into 
the Tartar village up the valley, into which the inhabitants 
were just returning, and having procured the attendance of the 
head men, he proceeded to explain to them that the wounded 
Eussians would be confided to their charge, and that they were 
to feed and maintain them, and when they were all well they 
were to let them go their ways. In order to look after their 
wounds an English surgeon was left behind with these 750 
men. This most painful and desolate duty devolved on Dr. 
Thomson, of the 44th Eegiment. He was told his mission 
would be his protection in case the Cossacks came, and that he 
was to hoist a flag of truce should the enemy appear in sight; 
and then, provided with some rum, buscuit, and salt meat, he 
was left alone with his charge, with the exception of his soldier 
servant. Ere the army went, however, one of the Eussian 
officers addressed the wounded and explained the position in 
which they were placed, and they promised to obey Dr. Thom 
son’s orders, to protect him as far as they could, and to ac 


54 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


quaint any Russsian force which might arrive with the peculiar 
circumstances under which he was among them. 

Dr. Thomson and his servant deserve to be honored as he¬ 
roes. For four or five days they, and they alone, had to wait 
upon and support this enormous mass of severely wounded 
men. The task was in many respects a most dangerous one. 
The patients themselves were not to be trusted. The Cos¬ 
sacks might also at any time make prisoners of them on the 
retreat of the Allied armies. The dead were festering in heaps 
around the sick and dying. These two men frequently had to 
bury a horrible mass of carcases and fragments before they 
could get at some poor wounded wretches. In this way they 
must, with their own hands, have dragged out and buried some 
two hundred. There was no food of any kind for the sick, so 
the soldier managed to drive in a stray bullock, and with the 
aid of some Russian convalescents, he killed it and made some 
soup for them. At the end of this time, 340 of the wounded 
were placed on board the ship Avon and carried to Odessa. 
Dr. Thomson, we regret to say, subsequently died of cholera, 
in the English camp before Sebastopol. 


INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 

Here is a letter which gives a life-like glimpse of the battle 
scene: 

44 1 felt (writes a corporal of the 42d) what I never felt but once in my life be¬ 
fore, and that was when a boy at school, and fighting with another—I felt pos¬ 
sessed of a nerve and resolution which I never believed was in me, though I 
winced a little when I saw a cannon-ball or shell coming direct in my way, and 
seeing some of my comrades cut in two by it. The bullets were so thick, it would 
make you think you were in a shower of hailstones. After we had taken the 
heights, (mind ‘the Forty-twa’ were the first to crown it,) we sort of half fell out 
and were half-permitted. As I was looking at the awful carnage, I came across a 
poor Pole: he was shot in the belly, and was in great agony. I went dowm on 
my knees, the tear stood in my eye, and I cried like a child. I clapped him, and 
gave him a drink of water, which w r as all I could do for him. At that time the 
Duke himself came up, the same as if he was one of our chums; and at the same 
time up comes a colonel on horseback. 4 1 have to thank your royal highness for 
saving us to-day.’ ‘OhI’ says the Duke, ‘you must not thank me, for these are 
the gentlemen that won the day, and saved you.’ The colonel replied, ‘ And Sir 
Colin too.’ ‘ Ah !’ says the Duke, ‘ Sir Colin is a brick.’ ‘Aye,’ says a serjeant ol 
ours, ‘and you are a brick yourself!’ and so we gave them three times three. Sir 
Colin told us that he had been granted the favor from the Commander-in-chief to 
wear a 42d bonnet in future.” 

An officer of the 95th describes his narrow escape from de¬ 
capitation : 

“ While in line, and standing up, we could plainly see the she t, nine, twelve, and 
twenty-four pounders bounding along the ground towards us, and over our heads; 
one of the latter—I judge from its size—I saw almost when it left the gun; it came 










































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INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 


55 


apparently very slow, right for me, so slow that one would imagine it could be 
stopped by the hand, and about a few feet horizontally from the ground. I made 
sure that my last moment was at hand, when, by instinct, I bent myself double, 
and, at that moment, whiz, I heard the shot pass, and felt the wind of it on my 
head. On rising I turned round, and I saw the shot strike against a small eleva¬ 
tion of the ground three hundred or four hundred yards in the rear, throwing up a 
cloud of dust; it then bounded in the air, and fell, spent, half-a-mile further on. 
Had I remained in the erect position, my head must have been struck off. A shoit 
prayer of thanks to Him who had thus so miraculou; ly preserved me, burst from 
my lips.” 

The following touching letters are records of domestic calam¬ 
ity which might be multiplied by thousands : 

“ My Dear Delme : I shall wring your heart, indeed, and poor Mrs. Radcliffe’s, 
by the sad intelligence I have, alas! to communicate. Your poor dear boy fell 
yesterday at the head of the company he commanded, (No. 1,) while gallantly lead¬ 
ing them to the attack of a Russian entrenched battery, heavily armed, and most 
strongly occupied. Never was a more noble feat of arms done than the capture of 
this battery; and in that capture the poor dear old Welsh were foremost. Their 
loss has been frightful. Chester, Wynn, Evans, Connelly, my poor sister’s boy, 
Harry Anstruther, Butler, Radcliffe, and Young, were all killed dead at the same 
moment, and within a space of one hundred square yards. Applethwaite, (it s 
feared mortally,) Campbell, Sayer, Bathurst, and Stopton wounded. Only six offi¬ 
cers remain untouched, and nearly two hundred men are hors du combat The ex¬ 
ploit was noble indeed; but what a sacrifice I * * * I am heart-sick at the loss 
of so many dear and valued friends, and at the thought of my poor sister’s anguish. 
God alone can comfort us in these overwhelming calamities, and to His almighty 
will let us humbly bow. Your dear boy died instantly, without pain, and lien 
buried in a deep grave along with his brave comrades, close to the spot where ho 
eo nobly died. * * * Arthur W. Torrens. 

“ P. S.—Harry Torrens and Bulwer buried him. His wound was in the centre 
of his breast. He lay on his back, and his body had been untouched and re¬ 
spected. God bless and save him. His face was calm, with almost a smilo 
on it A. W. T.” 

A letter was found upon Lieut. Poitevin, the French officer 
mentioned in the dispatch of Marshal St. Arnaud as having 
been shot while planting the French flag on the telegraph 
tower. It was addressed to his sister, and gave an account of 
the landing in the Crimea, and the events prior to the battle. 
“I will write again,” he concluded, “from Sebastopol or from 
the entrenchment.” At the bottom of the letter, which is now 
a relic for the family of the writer, in the blank which he had 
left to add further details, is written this simple and affecting 
postscript: 

“ Mademoiselle : It is with the deepest grief that I write these few lines, which 
are to announce to you the loss of the brother who, three days ago, wrote to you 
the above letter. This worthy friend was taken from us in the battle of the 20th, 
while filling the glorious functions of porte-drapear. If the regrets which he leaven 
among all the officers and soldiers of the 30th can alleviate any part of the grief 
which that death will cause to his family, I am happy to have a good part in it.— 
A friend who loved him.” 

Among the many daring exploits of the intrepid men by 
whose energy and unshaken courage the Allied arms have been 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


16 


carried to tlie heights of the Alma, we have not heard of an 
instance which surpasses in cool daring the conduct of Lieu¬ 
tenants Lindsey and Thistleth waite, of the Scots Fusileer Guards, 
the Queen’s color being carried by the former, and the regi¬ 
mental color by tne latter gentleman. At the moment before 
the heights were gained, and when the deadly struggle raged 
so fiercely as to make it almost impossible to tell friend from 
foe, the two lieutenants became separated from their battalion, 
and found themselves with the four serjeants whose duty it 
was to support them, attacked by a body of Russians, whose 
commanding officer had led them against the colors. A despe¬ 
rate conflict ensued; the four serjeants quickly fell under a 
shower of balls. The Queen’s color, carried by Mr. Lindsey, 
was torn into stripes, being pierced by a cloud of bullets. The 
staff was shot in two ; still the gallant officers persevered, and 
succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy who sur¬ 
rounded them. They were ably assisted, and at the right mo¬ 
ment, by Captain Drummond, the adjutant of the regiment, 
whose horse was at that moment shot under him. Captain 
Lindsey, seeing the danger to which the colors were exposed, 
rushed to the relief, and, with a revolver-pistol, shot three of 
the assailants. The successful bearers of the standard escaped 
almost miraculously, and succeeded in planting their colors on 
the heights, which had been then but just won from the Rus¬ 
sians, Mr. Lindsey having actually climbed the steep face of 
the hill with the aid of the broken staff, while he exultingly 
waved what remained of it, with her Majesty’s colors, over 
his head. Neither this gallant gentleman, nor his equally 
distinguished companion, Mr. Thisthethwaite, received any 
hurt. 

Colonel Hey garth’s escape was also a singular instance of the 
chances of the battle-field. When he received his first wound, 
he was in such extreme close quarters with the enemy that 
his shoulder, which was shot through, was burned by the dis¬ 
charge of a Russian musket. While lying on the field, close 
to the river’s bank, which he had but just ascended, and in an 
unconscious state, another shot fractured his leg, and, in the 
struggle produced by this concussion, he rolled over and down 
the bank into the stream of the Alma. The sudden shock and 
the coldness of the water staunched the blood which was flow¬ 
ing from the arteries of the shoulder, and so saved his life, 
although, in scrambling out of the water, he received another 
wound from a ball, which grazed his head. 

Colonel Steele, Lord Raglan’s military secretary, was for some 
time supposed to have fallen. Lord Raglan, in the heat of the 
fight, ordered him to ride to the brigade of Guards, and give 


MARCHING FOR SEBASTOPOL. 


57 


the order to advance, intending, of coarse, that the order being 
given, be should return to his place with the staff. The mo¬ 
ment was, however, too exciting for the hot blood of the mili¬ 
tary secretary, and having given the order of his chief, ho 
rushed forward himself with his old battalion, and did not 
again present himself to Lord Raglan until he came to announce 
that the field was won, and to ask forgiveness for the breach 
of orders of which he had been guilty, in joining the brilliant 
charge of the Guards, which so largely aided in gaining the 
battle. 

A surgeon writes: “I have seen some curious wounds from 
the course taken by the balls. One man, who fell by my side, 
roared out, ‘ 0 doctor, I am killed, 7 but on tearing open his 
clothes, I found the ball had not gone deeper than the skin. 
A cannon-ball passed close to me, and over the head of a man 
who was lying on the ground; you could see the round shot 
passing by you like a swift bowling at cricket. The Russians 
had an ugly trick of lying on the ground, pretending to be 
wounded, and firing at us as soon as we passed; so our men 
massacred them right and left.” 

MARCHING FOR SEBASTOPOL. 

On the morning of September 23, two days after the battle, 
the Allied army left the blood-stained heights of Alma, and 
commenced their march towards Sebastopol. Soon after dawn 
the French assembled all their drums and trumpets on the top 
of the highest of the hills they carried, and a wild flourish and 
roll, repeated again and again, and broken by peals of sound 
from the bugles of the infantry, celebrated their victory ere 
they departed. It was spirited, stirring, and thrilling music: 
and its effect, as it swelled through the darkness of early morn¬ 
ing, down over the valley, was most impressive and exciting. 
The watch-fires were still burning languidly as the sleepers 
roused themselves, all wet with dew, and prepared to leave the 
scene of their triumphs. The fogs of the night crept slowly 
up the hill-sides, and hung in uncertain folds around their 
summits, revealing here and there the gathering columns of 
our regiments, in dark patches on the declivities, or showing 
the deep black-looking squares of the French battalions, al¬ 
ready in motion towards the south. Dimly seen in the dis¬ 
tance, the fleet was moving along slowly by the line of the 
coast, the long lines of smoke trailing back on their wake. 

At 3 P.M., the beautiful valley of the Katcha River came 
in sight; its opposite side formed by a ridge of hills clad with 
verdure, and with a small forest of shrubs, through which, 


4)8 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


here and there, shone the white walls of villas and snug cot* 
tages. Altogether that valley was too fair a_ picture of rural 
comfort and happiness for the ruthless hand of man to lay 
waste. # t ’ 

“ The Katcha is a small and rapid rivulet, with banks like 
those of the Alma. We found the whole course was marked 
by neat white cottages, and that it watered the most delicious 
vineyards and gardens, amid which their habitations were 
placed; but there were no inhabitants visible. Wheeling over 
the bridge, we turned eastward towards the little village of 
Eskel, on the left bank. The first building on the road was 
the Imperial Post-house, with its sign-post of a double-headed 
eagle, and an illegible inscription. The usual wooden direction- 
post, with a bluish ribbon painted round it diagonally on a 
white ground, informed us that we were on our way to Sebas¬ 
topol, distant about ten miles. The place was abandoned, and 
the house destitute of the smallest particle of furniture. The 
road now assumed the character of an English by-way in De¬ 
vonshire or Hampshire. Low walls at either side were sur 
mounted by fruit trees laden with apples, pears, peaches, apri¬ 
cots, all ripe and fit for use, and at their feet clustered grape-? 
of the most delicate flavor. The first villa we came to was 
the residence of a physician or country surgeon. It had been 
ruthlessly destroyed by the Cossacks. A verandah, laden 
with clematis, roses, and honeysuckle in front, was filled with 
broken music-stools, work-tables, and lounging-chairs. All 
the glass of the windows was smashed. Every thing around 
betokened the hasty flight of the inmates. Two or three side¬ 
saddles were lying on the grass outside the hall-door; a parasol 
lay near them, close to a Tartar saddle and huge whip. The 
wine-casks were broken, and the contents spilt, the barley and 
corn of the granary were thrown about all over the ground, 
broken china and glass of fine manufacture were scattered 
over the pavement outside the kitchen, and amid all the deso¬ 
lation and ruin of the place a cat sat blandly at the threshold, 
winking her eyes in the sunshine at the new-comers. No pen 
can describe the scene within. Mirrors, in fragments, were 
lying on the floor; the beds had been ripped open, and the 
feathers littered the rooms a foot deep ; chairs, sofas, fauteuils, 
bedsteads, book-cases, picture-frames, images of saints, women’s 
needle-work, chests of drawers, shoes, boots, books, bottles, 
physic jars, all smashed or torn in pieces, lay in heaps in every 
room. Even the walls and doors were hacked with swords. 
The very genius of destruction had been at work, and had re 
veled in mischief. The physician’s account-book lay open on 
a broken table; he had been stopped in the very act of debit- 


MARCHING FOR SEBASTOPOL. 


59 


mg a dose to some neighbor, and the entry remained unfinished. 
Besides his account-book, lay a volume of “ Madame de Se- 
vigny’s Letters,” in French, and a “ Pharmacopoeia,” in Russian. 
A little bottle of prussic acid lay so invitingly near a box of 
bonbons that I knew it would be irresistible To the first hungry 
private who had a taste for almonds, and I accordingly poured 
out the contents to prevent the possible catastrophe. Our men 
and horses were soon reveling in grapes and corn, and we 
pushed on to Eskel, and established ourselves in a house, which 
had belonged to a Russian officer of rank; at least many traces 
of the presence of one were visible. Every house and villa in 
the place was a similar scene to that which I have in vain tried 
to describe. The better the class of the residences the more 
complete and pitiable the destruction. Grand pianos and 
handsome pieces of furniture, covered with silk and damasked 
velvet, rent to pieces with brutal violence, were found in more 
than one house; but one of the instruments retained enough 
of its vital organs to breathe out God save the Queen , from its 
lacerated brass ribs, and it wa3 made to do so accordingly— 
aye, under the very eye of a rigid portrait of his Imperial Ma¬ 
jesty the Czar, which hung on the wall above! These por¬ 
traits of the autocrat were not uncommon in the houses; 
nearly as common as pictures of saints with gilt and silvei 
glories around their heads. The houses, large and small, con 
sist of one story only, and magnitude is gained by lateral ex 
tension. Each house stands apart, with a large patch of vine 
yard around it, and a garden of fruit-trees, and is fenced in 
from the road by a stone-wall, and a line of poplars or elms. 
A porch, covered with vines, protects the entrance. The 
rooms are clean and scrupulously white-washed. Large out¬ 
houses, with wine-presses, stables, etc., complete the farmer’s 
establishment.” 

At the village of Eskel, Lord Raglan bivouacked for the 
night, he himself occupying a handsome villa, all the furniture 
of which had been destroyed by the Cossacks. Orders were 
given to prevent the soldiers destroying the vineyards or eat¬ 
ing the fruit; but, of course, it was quite impossible to guard 
so extensive and tempting a region as the valley of the Katcha 
from thirsty and hungry men. The soldiers fared on the rich¬ 
est of grapes, and the choicest pears and apples; but they did 
not waste and spoil as the French did at Marnaschei, lower 
down the river. A guard was set over the Greek Church of 
the village, and nothing was plundered; nothing was taken, 
except such things as hay, barley, fowls, and things absolutely 
necessary for the men ana horses. Had the owners been there, 
they would have been paid full value. 


60 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


The retreating Russians encamped at this village on the 
night of the battle of Alma, in a fatigued and dispirited con¬ 
dition. At 12 o’clock the same night there was an alarm that 
the English and French were coming. Up got the whole army 
of the Russians, pell-mell, and snatching up whatever they 
could, they rushed off in disorder across the cduntry. A part 
of the army went towards Bakshiserai. They were said to 
consist of about 20,000 men, and to be under the command of 
Prince Menchikoff in person. 

On the evening of the next day, (the 24th,) the English 
forces encamped on the high left bank of the Balbec River or 
Creek, six miles from the Katcha, and four from Sebastopol, 
having taken up a position considerably above the direct line 
of march, to escape the fire of a Russian battery on the oppo¬ 
site bank, lower down. The French were posted on the hills 
in advance. The combined fleet at this time lay at the mouth 
of the Katcha, from which large reinforcements were being 
landed. 


TAKING POSSESSION OF BALAKLAVA. 

Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud, not deeming it im 
portant to maintain communication with the Katcha, com¬ 
menced a flank movement to the left the next day, (Sept. 25th;) 
and the following day, after some sharp skirmishing with a 
Russian division, Lord Raglan took possession of Balaklava 
without opposition. The town is small, decayed, and unim- 

E ortant; but the harbor, though narrow and closely shut in by 
ills, afforded a secure shelter for several large English men- 
of-war, and at the same time presented convenient facilities for 
the landing of such war munitions as were needed in carrying 
on the siege. 


DEATH OF MARSHAL ST. ARNAUD. 

Though it will interrupt the narrative for a moment, it is in 
place here to speak of the death of Marshal St. Arnaud. He 
had been suffering from severe illness for some time previous 
to the expedition to the Crimea; grew rapidly worse after the 
battle of the Alma; resigned his command into the hands of 
General Canrobert on the 25th of September, and died on the 
29th. His body was conveyed to France, and on the 14th of 
November was interred at Paris with great military pomp. 
His private character, it appears, was far from a model for imi¬ 
tation ; but he had behaved gallantly ae a soldier, and the 
Emperor, therefore, ordered for him a splendid funeral, and 
also gave a handsome annuity to his widow. 


SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. 


61 


The expedition to the Crimea is supposed to nave originated 
mainly with Arnaud, who was impatient of delay, and desir¬ 
ous, perhaps, to add to his military distinction already acquired 
in Africa. He eagerly sought a conflict with the Russians at 
the Alma; and his plan seems to have been, after having 
broken and scattered the army under Menchikoff, to march 
immediately upon Sebastopol, while feebly garrisoned, and 
carry it by storm. But death interfered, and perhaps mate¬ 
rially changed the result of the siege. If he had lived to par¬ 
ticipate in it, the operations would doubtless have been more 
bold, if not more successful, than they have proved to be under 
Lord Raglan and General Canrobert. 

A characteristic anecdote is told of a French officer in con¬ 
nection with Marshal St. Arnaud. One day, after the siege had 
fairly commenced, and the exceeding difficulties of the under¬ 
taking began to be developed, he was taking a survey of the 
frowning fortifications of Sebastopol. Dropping his glass, he 
exclaimed, “ St. Arnaud, lucky dog, he is dead /” 


THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. 

The position of Sebastopol may be seen by a glance at the 
map accompanying this volume, which will convey a better 
idea of it than could any written description. 

FOKCE OF THE COMBATANTS. 

At the commencement of the siege, Sebastopol contained a 
garrison of 34,000 men, under the command of General Nochi- 
moff, who declared that he would defend the place to the last 
man and the last bullet; 30,000 men were encamped at Bok- 
shiserai, under Prince Menchikoff; and reinforcements soon 
arrived from the principalities, sufficient to swell the Russian 
force to about 90,000 men, including soldiers and marines. 
The force of the Allies at the same time, on sea and on shore, 
was nearly, or quite, 100,000, and during the siege, reinforce¬ 
ments were constantly arriving, consisting of the wounded 
from the hospitals, who were sufficiently recovered to resume 
service; and a combined force from England and France, 
chiefly from the latter country, of some 50,000 men. Death, 
however, made such rapid havoc among the soldiers, that all 
the reinforcements hardly sufficed to keep up the original 
number. 

The siege artillery of the Allies was truly formidable, corn 


62 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


sisting of 400 field and siege guns; and for these, 800,COO shot 
and shells were provided, besides an immense quantity of 
gabions, fascines, and other materials for fortification. The 
Russians had 800 guns in their different forts, and 100 field 
pieces with Menchikoff’s army. 

The Russians, to guard against a direct attack from the sea, 
had sunk seven large war-vessels at the entrance of the harbor, 
and some weeks afterwards another, thus effectually closing it 
against the fleets of the Allies. Some weeks later, an English 
officer conceived a plan for removing these vessels by sub¬ 
marine explosion, something similar to the operations of M. 
Maillefert, on the rocks at Hurlgate. Twenty-four iron cylin¬ 
ders were constructed, each to contain 1000 pounds of powder, 
and shipped for the Crimea; but as yet we have received no 
account of a commencement of operations upon the sunken 
vessels, and we presume the work is found to be impracticable, 
on account of the destructive sweep of the Russian guns. 

THE POSITION OF THE ALLIES AROUND SEBASTOPOL. 

The position of the Allies was well defended from the land¬ 
ward. Their extreme right leaned on the slope of the moun¬ 
tains east of Balaklava, which run down like immense walls to 
Aloushta; the body of the right wing was at Karma, and the 
outposts stationed on the Black River. The centre occupied 
the road leading from Radikoi to Sebastopol, and from Bakshi- 
serai to Balaklava. The body of the left wing was at Karani; 
the outposts at Khutor. The French were on the left from the 
southern fort; the English on the right, from the southern fort 
to the ruins of Inkermann. The English were thus in position 
to draw supplies from Balaklava, and the French were fur¬ 
nished with like facilities by two small bays to the north of 
Cape Chersonesus. The Turks were placed in reserve, to act 
according to circumstances. 

The Allied armies were in position about the 1st of October. 
On the 2d, 5th, and 11th, the garrison of Sebastopol made 
sorties, and destroyed some small works, but without any very 
important result. On the 7th, the Russians, hovering on the 
outskirts of the Allies’ position, made a strong demonstration 
on the north-west extremity of the camp, but were kept in 
check by artillery, and retired without giving battle. 

OPENING FIRE UPON SEBASTOPOL. 

The siege batteries of the Allies were finished by the 7th of 
October, and guns and munitions in position by the 15th. In 


ATTACK ON LAND. 


68 


the intermediate time from the arrival of the Allies to 
this date, nothing of a remarkable character occurred bey on a 
a few skirmishes with the Cossacks, and a division or two 
of Menchikoff on the outskirts of the army, or an occa¬ 
sional sortie from the town, in all which the Russians werS 
easily repulsed. 

On the 17th, however, the siege commenced in earnest, and 
with such results as will make it a memorable day in. the his¬ 
tory of the conflicts of the Crimea. 

THE ATTACK ON LAND. 

The firing commenced by signal from the French and Eng¬ 
lish batteries at 6.30 A.M., and the cannonade was tremen¬ 
dous for two hours. 

At 8.30 the fire was slackened on both sides, but in a few 
minutes re-commenced with renewed energy, the whole town 
and the line of the batteries being enveloped in smoke. 

At 8.40 the magazine of the French battery at the extreme 
right blew up with a tremendous explosion, killing and wound¬ 
ing 100 men. The Eussians cheered, fired with renewed vigor, 
and nearly silenced the fire of the French, who had to suspend 
operations to repair damages. 

A lull on both sides at 10.30, but with a vigorous re-firing 
half an hour after. 

At 1.25 P.M. another magazine in the French lines blew 
up, and by this time the English fire had demolished the 
Round Tower, but could not silence the works around it. 

At 1.40 a great explosion occurred in the centre of Sebas¬ 
topol; but the fire of the Russians at that point did not abate 
in consequence. The cannonade continued on both sides, with 
occasional intermissions, until dark. 

The loss of the French was 200, principally by explosions; 
and the batteries on the extreme left were silenced. The loss 
of the English was comparatively trifling, and from the com¬ 
mencement of the siege up to this time did not exceed 100. 
The loss of the Eussians was about 500. 

The attack at sea ,—At the urgent solicitation of Lord Raglan 
-and General Canrobert, it was agreed by Admirals Dundas 
and Hameline, commanders of the Allied fleets, that the whole 
of the ships should assist the land attack by engaging the sea 
batteries on the north and south of the harbor. The French 
occupied the right, and the English the left. 

At 12.45, the French line-of-battle ships ran up in most 
magnificent style, and engaged the batteries on the sea-side, in 
cooperation with the fire of the Allies on the land. The scene 


64 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


was stunning, tremendous, indescribable; the Russians reply 
ing to the attacks by sea and land, though suffering greatly. 

At 2 P.M., the English vessels commenced, and engaged the 
batteries on the other side, and the firing became terrific. At 
the distance of six miles, the sustained sound was that of a 
furious locomotive at full-speed, but with an infinitely grander 
roar. It was a dead calm, so that the smoke hung in thick 
clouds about both ships and batteries, frequently hiding the 
combatants from each other. 

From 2 P.M. till dark, the cannonade raged furiously. Three 
of the English ships were badly handled, and the loss on their 
side was 46 killed and 250 wounded. On board the Sanspareil, 
eight or nine men were swept away at a forecastle gun, but the 
two remaining went on loading as if nothing had happened. 
The loss of the French was not so large as that of the English. 
The Russian Admiral, Raniloff, was killed. 

At dark, all the ships returned to their anchorage. The 
change was magical from the hot sun, mist, smoke, explosions, 
shot, shell, rockets, and the roar of ten thousand guns, to the 
cool, still, starlight-sky, reflecting in long tremendous lines the 
lights at the mast-heads of the ships, returning in profound 
silence. 

The combined fleet seems to have been placed in a position 
to suffer a good deal of damage, without being able to act very 
effectively upon the batteries of the town; and from the tone 
of Admiral Dundas’s dispatch, giving an account of the 
action, it may be inferred that both admirals went into the 
engagement reluctantly. 

During the night of the 7th, the Russians mounted new 
guns, made repairs, and briskly opened fire early the next 
morning. Their fire was superior to that of the English, firing 
three shots to their two. The French, for that day, were hoi's 
du combat , having been too much damaged by the disasters of 
the previous day. 

At 10 A.M. of the 18th, the Russians were discovered to be 
creeping up in a fog, to attack the rear on the Balaklava, but 
were dispersed by the fire of the Turks. 

On the night of the 20th, the Russians made a sortie, and 
attempted to spike the French guns; and most of those who 
entered the batteries were killed. On that day, Nochimoff, the 
commander of Sebastopol, was wounded in the head by a shell, 
and was reported dead, but subsequently recovered. 

From the opening fire to the 23d of October, the cannonade 
was almost incessant, and during that time, the town was fre¬ 
quently on fire from hot shot and the bursting of shell. 


CHARGE OF LIGHT CAVALRY AT GALA KLAVA. 




















































































t •. 








. 

• • 









C . v : 



























BATTLE OF BALAKLAYA. 


65 


From this time no remarkable incident is to be recorded 
until 


THE BATTLE OF BALAKLAYA, 

FOUGHT OCTOBER 26. 

TERRIBLE AND FATAL CHARGE OF THE LIGHT CAVALRY— A 
VICTORY ALMOST AS FATAL AS A DEFEAT. 

At half-past seven o’clock in the morning, an orderly came 
galloping in to the head-quarters camp from Balaklava, with 
the news that at dawn a strong corps of Russian horse, sup¬ 
ported by guns and battalions of infantry, had marched into 
the valley, and had already nearly dispossessed the Turks of the 
redoubt, No. 1, (that on Canrobert’s Hill, which was farthest 
from the English lines,) and that they were opening fire on the 
redoubts Nos. 2, 3, and 4, which would speedily be in their 
hands unless the Turks offered a stouter resistance than they 
had done already. 

Orders were dispatched to Sir George Cathcart, and to 
H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, to put their respective divi¬ 
sions, the 4th and the 1st, in motion for the scene of action, 
and intelligence of the advance of the Russians was also 
furnished to General Canrobert. Immediately on receipt of 
the news, the General commanded General Bosquet to get the 
3d division under arms, and sent a strong body of artillery 
and some two hundred Chasseurs d’Afrique to assist us in 
holding the valley. Sir Colin Campbell, who was in command 
of Balaklava, had drawn up the 93d Highlanders a little in front 
of the road to the town, at the first news of the advance of 
the enemy. The marines on the heights got under arms; the 
seamen’s batteries and marines’ batteries, on the heights close 
to the town were manned, and the French artillerymen and 
the Zouaves* prepared for action along their lines. Lord 
Lucan’s little camp was the scene of great excitement. The 
men had not had time to water their horses; they had not. 
broken their fast from the evening of the day before, and had 
barely saddled at the first blast of the trumpet, when they 
were drawn up on the slope behind the redoubts in front of 
their camp to operate on the enemy’s squadrons. When the 

* The Zouaves are by many supposed to be natives of Algeria, but such is not 
the case, though their dress is of the same picturesque character as that of the 
Turcas or Spahis, who form a part of the French anny in Africa. In the wars 
with the Arabs of that country they have been trained to great muscular force and 
agility, and astonished the Russians at Alma by the cat-like facility with which 
■ they made their way up the heights on that occasion, where they supposed no mas 
could maintain a footing. 


5 


66 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


Russians advanced, the Turks fired a few rounds at them, got 
frightened at the distance of their supports in the rear, looked 
round, received a few shots and shell, and then “ bolted.” 
Turks on the Danube were very different beings from Turks in 
the Crimea, as it proved the Russians of Sebastopol were not 
at all like the Russians of Silistria. 

Soon after eight Lord Raglan and his staff turned out and 
cantered towards the rear of our position. The booming of 
artillery, the spattering roll of musketry, were heard rising 
from the valley, drowning the roar of the siege guns in front 
before Sebastopol. A French light infantry regiment advanced 
with admirable care and celerity towards the ridge near the 
telegraph-house, which was already lined by companies of 
French infantry, while mounted officers scampered along its 
broken outline in every direction. 

General Bosquet a stout, soldier-like looking man, who re¬ 
minds one of the old genre of French generals, as depicted at 
Versailles, followed with his staff and a small escort of Hussars, 
at a gallop. Faint white clouds rose here and there above the 
hill from the cannonade below. Never did the painter’s eye 
rest on a more beautiful scene than was to be seen from the 
ridge. The fleecy vapors still hung around the mountain tops, 
and mingled with the ascending volumes of smoke; the patch 
of sea sparkled freshly in the rays of the morning sun, but its 
light w£3 eclipsed by the flashes which gleamed from the 
masses of armed men below. 

Looking to the left towards the gorge, compact masses of 
Russian infantry were seen, which had just debouched from the 
mountain passes near the Tchernaya, and were slowly advanc¬ 
ing with solemn stateliness up the valley. Immediately in 
their front was a regular line of artillery, of at least twenty 
pieces strong. Two batteries of light guns were already a mile 
in advance of them, and were playing with energy on the re¬ 
doubts, from which feeble puffs of smoke came at long inter¬ 
vals. Behind these guns, in front of the infantry, were 
enormous bodies of cavalry. They were in six compact 
squares, three on each flank, moving down en echelon towards 
the English forces, and the valley was lit up with the blaze of 
their sabres and lance points, and gay accoutrements. In their 
front, and extending along the intervals between each battery 
of guns, were clouds of mounted skirmishers, wheeling and 
whirling in the front of their march like autumn leaves tossed 
by the wind. The Zouaves close by, were lying like tigers at 
the spring, with ready rifles in hand, hidden chin deep by the 
earth-works which run along the line of these ridges on our 
near; but the quick-eyed Russians were manoeuvering on the 


BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA. 


67 


other side of the valley, and did not expose their columns to 
attack. Below the Zouaves could be seen the Turkish gun¬ 
ners in the redoubts, all in confusion as the shells &urst over 
them. “Just as I came up,” says an English eye-witness, “ the 
Russians had carried No. 1 redoubt, the farthest and most 
elevated of all, and their horsemen were chasing the Turks 
across the interval which lay between it and redoubt No. 2. 
At that moment the cavalry, under Lord Lucan, were formed 
in glittering masses—the light brigade, under Lord Cardigan, 
in advance; the heavy brigade, under Brigadier-General Scar¬ 
lett, in reserve. They were drawn up just in front of their 
encampment, and were concealed from the view of the enemy 
by a slight ‘ wave’ in the plain. Considerably to the rear of 
their right, the 93d Highlanders were drawn up in line, in front 
of the approach to Balaklava. Above and behind them, on 
the heights, the marines were visible through the glass, drawn 
up under arms, and the gunners could be seen ready in the 
earth-works, in which were placed the heavy ships’ guns. The 
93d had originally been advanced somewhat more into the 
plain, but the instant the Russians got possession of the first 
redoubt they opened fire on them from their own guns, which 
inflicted some injury, and Sir Colin Campbell ‘retired’ his 
men to a better position. Meantime the enemy advanced 
his cavalry rapidly. To our inexpressible disgust we saw the 
Turks in redoubt No. 2 fly at their approach. They ran in 
scattered groups across towards redoubt No. 3, and towards 
Balaklava; but the horse-hoof of the Cossack was too quick 
for them, and sword and lance were busily piled among the 
retreating herd. The yells of the pursuers and pursued were 
plainly audible. As the lancers and light cavalry of the 
Russians advanced; they gathered up their skirmishers with 
great speed and in excellent order—the shifting trails of men, 
which played all over the valley like moonlight on the water, 
contracted, gathered up, and the little peloton in a few moments 
became a solid column. Then up came their guns, in rushed 
their gunners to the abandoned redoubt, and the guns of No. 
2 redoubt soon played with deadly effect upon the dispirited 
defenders of No. 3 redoubt. Two or three shots in return 
from the earth-works, and all is silent. The Turks swarm over 
the earth-works, and run in confusion towards the town, firing 
their muskets at the enemy as they run. Again the solid column 
of cavalry opens like a fan, and resolves itself into a ‘ long 
spray’ of skirmishers. It laps the flying Turks, steel flashes 
in the air, and down goes the poor Moslem quivering on the 
plain, split through fez and musket-guard to the chin and 
breast-belt There is no support for them. It is evident the 


68 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


Russians have been too quick for ns. The Turks nave Oeen 
too quick also; for they have not held their redoubts long 
enough to enable us to bring them help. In vain the naval 
guns on the heights fire on the Russian cavalry; the distance 
is too great for shot or shell to reach. In vain the Turkish 
gunners in the earthen batteries which are placed along the 
French intrenchments strive to protect their flying country¬ 
men ; their shot fly wide and short of the swarming masses. 
The Turks betake themselves towards the Highlanders, where 
the} r check their flight and form into companies on the flanks 
of the Highlanders. 

As the Russian cavalry on the left of their line crown the 
hill across the valley, they perceive the Highlanders drawn up 
at the distance of some half-mile, calmly waiting their approach. 
They halt, and squadron after squadron flies up from the rear, 
till they have a body of some 1500 men along the ridge—lancers, 
and dragoons, and hussars. Then they move m echelon in two 
bodies, with another in reserve. The cavalry who have been 
pursuing the Turks on the right are coming up to the ridge 
beneath us, which conceals our cavalry from view. The heavy 
brigade in advance is drawn up in two lines. The first line 
consists of the Scots Greys and of their old companions if 
glory, the Enniskillens; the second of the 4th Royal Irish, on 
the 5th Dragoon Guards, and of the 1st Royal Dragoons. The 
light cavalry brigade is on their left, , in two lines also. The 
silence is oppressive ; between the cannon-bursts one can hear 
the champing of bits and the clink of sabres in the valley 
below. The Russians on their left drew breath for a moment, 
and then in one grand line dashed at the Highlanders. The 
ground flies beneath their horses’ feet; gathering speed at every 
stride, they dash on towards that thin red streak topped with a 
line of steel. The Turks fire a volley at eight hundred yards, 
and run. As the Russians come within six hundred yards, 
down goes that line of steel in front, and out rings a rolling 
volley of Minie musketry. The distance is too great; the 
Russians are not checked, but still sweep onwards with the 
whole force of horse and man, through the smoke, here and 
there knocked over by the shot of our batteries above. With 
breathless suspense every one awaits the bursting of the wave 
upon the line of Gaelic rock; but ere they come within a 
hundred and fifty yards, another deadly volley flashes from 
the levelled rifles, and carries death and'terror into the Russians 
They wheel about, open files right and left, and fly back fastei 
than they came. “ Bravo, Highlanders! well done,” shout the 
excited spectators; but events thicken. The Highlanders and 
their splendid front are soon forgotten; men scarcely have a 


BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA. 


G9 


moment to think of this fact, that the 93d never altered theii 
formation to receive that tide of horsemen. ‘No,’ said Sir 
Colin Campbell, ‘ I did not think it woi th while to form them 
even four deep!’ The ordinary British line, two deep, was 
quite sufficient to repel the attack of these Muscovite cavaliers. 

Our eyes were, however, turned in a moment on our own 
cavalry. We saw Brigadier-General Scarlett ride along in 
front of his massive squadrons. The Russians—evidently 
corps d 1 elite —their light blue jackets embroidered with silver 
lace, were advancing on their left, at an easy gallop, towards 
the brow of the hill. A forest of lances glistened in the rear, 
and several squadrons of gray-coated dragoons moved up 
quickly to support them as they reached the summit. The 
instant they came in sight, the trumpets of our cavalry gave 
out the warning blast which told us all that in another moment 
we should see the shock of battle beneath our very eyes; 
Lord Raglan, all his staff and escort, and groups of officers, the 
Zouaves, French generals and officers, and bodies of French 
infantry on the height, were spectators of the scene, as though 
they were looking on the stage from the boxes of a theatre. 
Nearly every one dismounted and sat down, and not a word 
was said. The Russians advanced down the hill at a slow 
canter, which they changed to a trot and at last nearly halted. 
Their first line was at least double the length of ours—it was 
three times as deep. Behind them was a similar line, equally 
strong and compact. They evidently despised their insignifi 
cant-looking enemy, but their time was come. The trumpets 
rang out again through the valley, and the Greys and Ennis- 
killeners went right at the centre of the Russian cavalry. The 
space between them was only a few hundred yards; it was 
scarce enough to let the horses “gather way,” nor had the men 
quite space sufficient for the full play of their sword-arms. 
The Russian line brings forward each wing as our cavalry ad¬ 
vance, and threatens to annihilate them as they pass on. Turn¬ 
ing a little to their left, so as to meet the Russian right, the 
Greys rush on with a cheer that thrills to every heart—the 
wild shout of the Enniskilleners rises high and clear through 
the air at the same instant. As lightning flashes through a 
cloud, the Greys and Enniskilleners pierced through the dark 
masses of the Russians. The shock was but for a moment. 
There was a clash of steel and a light play of sword-blades in 
the air, and then the Greys and the red-coats disappear in the 
midst of the shaken and quivering columns. In another mo¬ 
ment we see them emerging and dashing on with diminished 
numbers, and in broken order, against the second line, which 
is advancing against them as fast as it can to retrieve the for 


70 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


tune of the charge. It was a terrible moment. God help 
them! they are lost!’ was the exclamation of more than one 
man, and the thought of many. With unabated fire the noble 
hearts dashed at their enemy. It was a fight of heroes. The 
first line of Russians which had been smashed utterly by ouj 
charge, and had fled off at one flank and towards the centre, 
were coming back to swallow up our handful of men. By sheer 
steel and sheer courage, Enniskillener and Scot were winning 
their desperate way right through the enemy’s squadrons, and 
already gray horses and red coats had appeared right at the 
rear of the second mass, when, with irresistible force, like one 
bolt from a bow, the 1st Royals, the 4th Dragoon Guards, and 
the 5th Dragoon Guards rushed at the remnants of the first 
line of the enemy, went through it as though it were made of 
pasteboard, and, dashing on the second body of Russians as 
they were still disordered by the terrible assault of the Greys 
and their companions, put them to utter rout. This Russian 
horse in less than ten minutes after it met our dragoons was 
.flying with all its speed before a force certainly not half its 
strength. A cheer burst from every lip; in the enthusiasm, 
officers and men took off their caps and shouted with delight, 
and thus keeping up the scenic character of their position, they 
clapped their hands again and again. Lord Raglan at once 
dispatched Lieutenant Curzon, Aide-de-Camp, to convey his 
congratulations to Brigadier-General Scarlett, and to say ‘ well 
done.’ The gallant old officer’s face beamed with pleasure 
when he received the message. ‘ I beg to thank his Lordship 
very sincerely,’ was his reply. The cavalry did not long pur¬ 
sue their enemy. Their loss was very slight, about 85 killed 
and wounded in both affairs. Major Clarke was slightly 
wounded, and had a narrow escape from a sabre-cut at the 
back of his head. Lieut-Colonel Griffiths retired after the first 
charge, having been wounded at the back of the head. Cor¬ 
net Pendergast was wounded in the foot. There were not more 
than four or five men killed outright, and our most material 
loss was from the cannon playing on our heavy dragoons after¬ 
wards, when covering the retreat of our light cavalry. 

In the Royal Horse Artillery, we had a severe, but I am 
glad to say, a temporary loss. Captain Maude, who directed 
the service of his guns with his usual devotedness and daunt¬ 
less courage, was struck in the arm by a shell which burst at 
his saddle-bow and killed his horse. To the joy of all the 
army it is ascertained that he is doing well on board ship. 
After the charge, Captain, the Hon. Arthur Hardinge, came 
galloping up to Lord Raglan with the news of what the cavalry 
had done. He had been sent with orders to Lord Lucan, and 


THE DISASTROUS CAVALRY CHARGE. 


71 


at the moment of the charge he had joined the Greys and 
dashed with them into the Eussian columns. He was an 
object of envy to all his friends on the staff while he described 
in animated language the glorious events of those brilliant fiv* 
minutes. 

At 10 o’clock the Guards and Highlanders of the First Di 
vision were seen moving towards the plains from their camp 
The Duke of Cambridge came up to Lord Eaglan for orders, 
and his Lordship, ready to give the honor of the day to 
Sir Colin Campbell, who commanded at Balaklava, told His 
Boyal Highness to place himself under the direction of the 
Brigadier. At 10.40 the Fourth Division also took up their 
position in advance of Balaklava. The cavalry were then on 
the left front of our position facing the enemy; the Light Cav¬ 
alry Brigade was on the left flank forward; the Heavy Cavalry 
Brigade en echelon in reserve, with guns on the right; the 4th 
Dragoons and 5th Dragoons and Greys on the left of the bri¬ 
gade, the Enniskillens and 3d Dragoons on the right. The 
Fourth Division took up ground in the centre; the Guards and 
Highlanders filed off towards the extreme right, and faced the 
redoubts, from which the Eussians opened on them with such 
guns as had not been spiked. 

At 10.50 General Canrobert, attended by his staff, and Brig¬ 
adier-General Eose, rode up to Lord Eaglan, and the staffs of 
the two Generals and their escorts mingled together in praise 
of the magnificent charge of our cavalry, while the chiefs apart 
conversed over the operations of the day, which promised to 
be one of battle. The Eussian cavalry, followed by our shot, 
had retired in confusion, leaving the ground covered with horses 
and men. In carrying an order early in the day, Mr. Blunt, 
Lord Lucan’s interpreter, and son of our Consul in Thessaly, 
had a narrow escape. His horse was killed ; he seized a Eus¬ 
sian charger as it galloped past riderless, but the horse carried 
him almost into the Eussian cavalry, and he only saved him¬ 
self by leaping him into a redoubt among a number of fright¬ 
ened Turks who were praying to Allah on their bellies. I 
should mention here that the Turks who had been collected on 
the flanks of the 93d, fled at the approach of the Eussians 
without firing a shot! At 10.55, a body of cavalry, the Chas¬ 
seurs d’Afrique, passed down to the plain, and were loudly 
cheered by our men. They took up ground in advance of the 
ridges on our left.” 

THE DISASTROUS CAVALRY CHARGE. 

“And now occurred the melancholy catastrophe which fill» 
us all with sorrow. It appears that the Quartermaster-Gene 


n 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


ral, Brigadier Airey, thinking that the Light Cavaliy liad not 
gone far enough in front when the enemy’s horse had fled, gave 
an order in writing to Captain Nolan, 15th Hussars, to take to 
Lord Lucan, directing his Lordship ‘ to advance’ his cavalry 
nearer to the enemy. A braver soldier than Captain Nolan 
the army did not possess. He was known to all his arm of the 
service for his entire devotion to his profession; and his name 
must be familiar to all who take interest in our cavalry, for his 
excellent work, published a year ago, on our drill and system 
of re-mount and breaking horses. I had the pleasure of his 
acquaintance, and I know he entertained the most exalted 
opinions respecting the capabilities of the English horse soldier. 
Properly led, the British Hussar and Dragoon could, in his 
mind, break square, take batteries, ride over columns of infan¬ 
try, and pierce any other cavalry in the world as if they were 
made of straw. He thought they had not had the opportunity 
of d©ing all that was in their power, and that they had missed 
even such chances as they had offered to them—that, in fact, 
they were in some measure disgraced. A matchless horseman 
and a first-rate swordsman, he held in contempt, I am afraid, 
even grape and canister. He rode off with his orders to Lord 
Lucan, lie is now dead and gone. God forbid I should cast 
a shade on the brightness of his honor; but I am bound to 
state what I am told occurred when he reached his Lordship. 
I should premise that as the Russian cavalry retired, their 
infantry fell back towards the head of the valley, leaving men 
in three of the redoubts they had taken, and abandoning the 
fourth. They had also placed some guns on the heights over 
their position, on the left of the gorge. Their cavalry joined 
the reserves, and drew up in six solid divisions, in an oblique 
line, across the entrance to the gorge. Six battalions of infan¬ 
try were placed behind them, and about thirty guns were drawn 
up along their line, while masses of infantry were also collected 
on the hills behind the redoubts on our right. Our cavalry 
had moved up to the ridge across the valley, on our left, as the 
ground was broken in front, and had halted in the order I have 
already mentioned. When Lord Lucan received the order 
from Captain Nolan and had read it, he asked, we are told, 
‘ Where are we to advance to T Captain Nolan pointed with 
his finger to the line of the Russians, and said, 1 There are the 
enemy, and there are the guns, sir, before them; it is your 
duty to take them,’ or words to that effect, according to state¬ 
ments made since his death. Lord Lucan, with reluctance, gave 
the order to Lord Cardigan to advance upon the guns, con¬ 
ceiving that his orders compelled him to do so. The noble 
Earl, though he did not shrink, also saw the fearful odds against 


THE DISASTROUS CAVALRY CHARGE. 


73 


him. Don Quixote, in his tilt against the windmill, was not 
near so rash and reckless as the gallant fellows who prepared 
without a thought to rush on almost certain death. It is a 
maxim of war, that “ cavalry never act without a support,” 
that “ infantry should be close at hand when cavalry carry 
guns, as the effect is only instantaneous,” and that it is neces¬ 
sary to have on the flank of a line of cavalry some squadrons* 
in column, the attack on the flank being most dangerous. 
The only support our light cavalry had was the reserve of 
heavy cavalry at a great distance behind them, the infantry 
and guns being far in the rear. There were no squadrons in 
column at all, and there was a plain to charge over before the 
enemy’s guns were reached, of about a mile and a half in 
length. At 11.10 our Light Cavalry Brigade rushed to the 
front, the whole force numbering a little over 600. 

The whole brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, and 
yet it was more than could be spared. As they passed towards 
the front, the Russians opened on them from the guns in the 
redoubt on the right, with volleys of musketry and rifles. 
They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun, in 
all the pride and splendor of war. The beholders could 
scarcely believe the evidence of their senses. Surely that 
handful of men are not going to charge an army in position ? 
Alas! it was but too true; their desperate valor knew no 
bounds; and far, indeed, was it removed from its so-called 
better part—discretion. They advanced in two lines, quicken¬ 
ing their pace as they closed towards the enemy. A more 
fearful spectacle was never witnessed than by those who, with¬ 
out the power to aid, beheld their heroic countrymen rushing 
to the arms of death. At the distance of 1200 yards, the 
whole line of the enemy belched forth, from thirty iron- 
mouths, a flood of smoke and flame, through which hissed the 
deadly balls. Their flight was marked by instant gaps in the 
gallant ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded 
or riderless across the plain. The first line is broken—it is 
joined by the second—they never halt or check their speed an 
instant," With diminished ranks, thinned by those thirty guns, 
which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy, 
with a halo of flashing steel above their heads, and with a 
cheer, which was many a noble fellow’s death-cry, they flew 
into the smoke of the batteries; but ere they were lost from 
view, the plain was strewed with their bodies, and with the 
carcases of their horses. They were exposed to an oblique 
fire from the batteries on the hills on both sides, as well as to 
a direct fire of musketry. Through the clouds of smoke could 
be seen their sabres flashing as they rode up to the guns, and 


74 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


dashed between them, cutting down the gunners as they stood 
We saw them riding through the guns; and soon again, 
to our frenzied delight, we saw them returning, after break¬ 
ing through a column of Russian infantry, and scattering them 
like chaff, when the flank fire of the battery on the hill swept 
them down, scattered and broken as they were. Wounded 
men and dismounted troopers flying towards us told the tale ; 
demi-gods could not have done what we failed to do. At the 
very moment when they were about to retreat, an enormous 
mass of lancers was hurled on their flank. Colonel Shewed, 
of the 8th Hussars, saw the danger, and rode his few men 
straight at them, cutting his way through with fearful loss. 
The other regiments turned, and engaged in a desperate en¬ 
counter. 

With courage too great almost for credence, they were 
breaking their way through the columns that enveloped them, 
when there took place an act of atrocity without parallel in 
the modern warfare of civilized nations. The Russian gun 
ners, when the storm of cavalry passed, returned to their guns. 
They saw their own cavalry mingled with the troopers who 
had just ridden over them, and, to the eternal disgrace of the 
Russian name, the miscreants poured a murderous volley of 
grape and canister on the mass of struggling men and horses, 
mingling friend and foe in one common ruin. 

It was as much as our heavy cavalry brigade could do to 
cover the retreat of the miserable remnants of that band of 
neroes, as they returned to the place they had so lately quitted 
in all the pride of life. At 11.85 A.M., not a British soldier, 
except the dead and dying, was left in front of the bloody 
Muscovite guns. Of the 607 Light Dragoons, Lancers, and 
Hussars, who' rode so gallantly in the storm of battle, only 
198 could be mustered at 2 P.M., and above 400 were killed, 
wounded, and missing. Lord Lucan was slightly wounded; 
and Lord Cardigan, who led the charge at the head of the 
Light Dragoons, received a lance through his clothes. This 
gallant brigade, a majority of whom had so suddenly met a 
bloody death, were the flower of the whole army, and many 
a heart is saddened by their untimely fate. 

While this affair was going on, the French cavalry made a 
most brilliant charge at the battery on our lfeft, which was fir¬ 
ing on our men, and cut down the gunners; but they could 
not get off the guns, and had to retreat with a loss of two cap¬ 
tains and fifty men out of their little force of 200 Chasseurs. 
The heavy cavalry, in columns of squadrons, moved slowly 
backwards, covering the retreat of the broken men. The 
ground was left covered with our men, and with hundreds of 


LETTERS FROM THE COMEATANTS. 


/O 

Russians, and we could see the Cossacks busy searching the 
dead. The Russians were finally compelled to retreat up the 
gorge, successively abandoning Nos 1, 2, and 3 redoubts, and 
blowing up the magazine of No. 2 as they left it. 

The cannonade ceased at 1.15 P.M., and the two armies re¬ 
tained their respective positions. Balaklava still remained in 
our possession, in spite of the most desperate efforts of the 
enemy to drive us from our position. Our loss was above 
500 in alL Another such victory would ruin us.” 

LETTERS FROM THE COMBATANTS. 

A corporal of the 5th Dragoons, one of the regiments 
engaged in the terrible charge of the 25th, writes home as fol¬ 
lows : 

“ Dear Father and Mother : I am glad to tell you that we had an engagement 
with the Russians on the 25th of this month. We turn out in marching order 
every morning at four o’clock; it is quite dark then, so we stand to our horses till 
about one hour after daylight, because we expected an attack before fhis, as they 
have been gathering their army about three miles from our camp, this last fortnight 
They had before the action 34,000 men. Well, on the morning of the 25th, just 
a3 daylight was breaking, the cannon commenced firing from our batteries on the 
hills, and about seven o’clock we advanced just opposite our batteries under the 
hill. We could not see our enemies, but they kept firing at our artillery, and shell 
was flying over our heads and dropping all round us. Our artillery had to retire, 
as they had no more ammunition; so after a while the Turks started, left the bat¬ 
teries, and run down the hill as hard as ever they could. Well, the enemy got 
possession of our batteries, and we could see them bringing their guns up the hill; 
and in a few minutes the shot and shell was coming pretty fast; they were firing 
six-pounders at us, and we could see the balls coming; we shouted out, ‘ Look out, 
boys;’ they came with such force against the ground that they would rise and go 
for half a mile before they would touch the ground again. Us and the Greys lost 
some horses there. We had to retire out of the range of the guns. We had no 
infantry up at the time, except the Highlanders; for the Turks had all run away, so 
their cavalry came galloping over the hills. Some of them went to attack the 
Highlanders, who formed square, and popped them off nicely, so they retired from 
them. In the mean time, another lot of cavalry came to attack us; I suppose they 
thought we should run. At first we thought they were our Light Brigade, till they 
got about twenty yards from us ; than we saw the difference. We wheeled into 
line; they stood still, and did not know what to do. The charge sounded, and 
away we went into the midst of them. Such cutting and slashing for about a min¬ 
ute, it was dreadful to see; the rally sounded, but it was no use, none of U3 
would come away until the enemy retreated; then our fellows cheered as loud as 
ever they could. When we were in the midst of them my horse was shot; ho 
fell, and got up again, and I was entangled in the saddle; my head and one leg 
were on the ground. He tried to gallop on with the rest, but fell again, and 1 
managed to get loose. While I was in that predicament a Russian lancer was 
going to run me through, and I could not help myself. Macnamara came up at the 
time, and nearly severed his head from his body, so thank God I did not get a 
scratch. I got up, and ran to where I saw a lot of loose horses; I got one belong¬ 
ing to one of the Enniskilleners, and soon was along with the regiment again. 
When I had mounted again, I saw a Russian who had strayed from the rest; he 
rode up to try and stop me from joining the regiment again. As it happened, I had 
observed a pistol in the holster pipe, so I ;ook it out, and shot him in the arm; ho 


76 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


dropped his sword; then I immediately rode up to him and nin him through tha 
body; the poor fellow dropped to the ground. Lord Lucan said, when we charged, 
that we were into them, and the devil could not get us away from them. Lord 
Raglan sent his compliments to General Scarlett, and said that the heavy brigade 
behaved gallantly. We had two men killed; Corporal Taylor was one, and Ealing 
was the other, and fourteen wounded. In the evening they wanted to give the 
Light Division a chance, and sent them to retake the guns. The poor fellows went, 
and not half of them came back. The Donalys are safe. We expected an attack 
this morning, but they did not advance. We expect to bo engaged to-morrow, but 
we don’t care a pin about them as long as we have plenty of our infantry; that day 
there was none there but cavalry and artillery.” 

A French Zouave before Sebastopol, thus details his rather 
singular experience: 

“ My Dear Father : I have been leading of late the life of a poachen I am 
every day on the look out for a Russian, being attached to a company of francs 
tireurs , or riflemen. Our duty is to fire at the Russian artillerymen and to protect 
our own, who have no reason to be dissatisfied witli us yet. I can not say the same 
of the Russians, who appear to suffer greatly from our rifles. To give you an idea 
of our mode of acting, we set out at two in the morning, fully accoutred, with a 
supply of ammunition and biscuit On our arrival in the trenches, we are provided 
with bags, a shovel, and a pickaxe. At a given signal, we jump over the parapets 
with the agility of stags, and take refuge in some sheltered spot under the forts, 
where we dig a kind of rabbit-hole to hide in. We place our bags as a protection 
on the side fading the enemy, and we then set to work. We remain in this sort ot 
tomb the entire dav; we leave it at dark, often exposed to a. shower of grape shot. 
You will naturally ask, dear father, what we have to do all that time. I can assure 
you that we have plenty to do. We load and fire in rapid succession, and eAery 
shot tells on a Russian artilleryman. The other day two officers were standing on 
a piece of timber placed on the top of a tower opposite my station for the purpose 
of having a view of qur works. With two shots I brought down those gentlemen, 
and at the same moment the batteries let fly a discharge of balls, shells, and grapo 
shot, which fortunately passed over my head.” '■> 


BADLY CUT UP—THE SURGEONS AT WORK. 

“The Greys have again distinguished themselves beyond 
praise, suffering, however, severely in the affair of the 25th. 
They charged right through the Russian cavalry, who num 
bered about five to one; got surrounded by them, made another 
charge, and cut themselves out by aheer fighting. Colonel 
Griffith got shot in the head ; Brevet-Major Clarke a sabre-cut 
at the back of his neck; Cornet Prendergast shot right through 
the foot; Cornet Handley stabbed in the side and arm, being 
at one time surrounded by four Cossacks, three of whom he 
shot with his revolver, and the fourth was cut down by 
his sergeant. I saw this young gallant fellow a few hours 
after, and he was then getting ready to rejoin his regiment 
from the temporary hospital, not finding his two wounds of 
sufficient consequence to keep him from his post. The Colonel 
did the same, after getting his head dressed.. Major Clarke did 
not, I believe, leave the field. I also saw Lieutenant Eliot, 5th 
Dragoon Guards, riding into Balaklava, his face so covered 


THE SIEGE CONTINUED. 


77 


with blood, and his head bound up, that we could not recognize 
him. The gallant Captain White, too, of the 17th Lancers, 
was lying on his back when we came up to him. with a round 
shot right through his leg, with Sir W. Gordon dreadfully cut 
about the head, both receiving, however, every attention and 
care from Surgeon Kendall. In this garden and temporary 
hospital could be seen men with every description of wound, 
from the sabre-cut to the grape and canister shot. One poor 
fellow’s leg was taken off while we were there, nor can one easily 
forget the shocking scenes, the result of such a day’s fighting. 
The surgeons (Brush and his assistant, Chappie,) of the Greys, 
were working away with their sleeves turned up, arms bloody, 
faces the same, looking more like butchers than surgeons, so 
hard they worked all day. 

SORTIE THE NEXT DAY. 

On the 26th, the Russians, elated by the easy success gained 
over the Turks the day previous, ventured an attack upon the 
British lines. Toward noon three large columns, numbering 
nine thousand infantry, with a numerous artillery, were seen 
advancing along a ravine directly on the encampment of the 
2d British Division. A brisk fire of eighteen guns was opened 
upon them, and at the- same time a volley of shells tore open 
their ranks with great carnage. A Lancaster gun was also 
brought to bear upon them, belching forth a shower of grape; 
and a few rockets, dexterously discharged into their midst, 
transformed the panic which had commenced into a complete 
rout. Regiment after regiment started in pursuit of the flying 
foe at a rattling pace, eager to settle scores with them for many 
a false and wearisome night alarm. Many of the fugitives were 
killed during the flight, and the carnage was only staid by the 
Russians taking refuge within the walls of Sebastopol. Gen¬ 
eral Gortchakoff, who commanded the sortie, was wounded in 
the hip; and about eighty prisoners were brought in by the 
skirmishers. The Russian loss was about four hundred, that 
of the British less than a quarter of that number. 

THE SIEGE CONTINUED. 

The state of the besieged was now getting desperate. The 
fire of the Allies had become more and more effective; their 
lines of batteries having from a range of one thousand two 
hundred or one thousand five hundred yards at the commence¬ 
ment, approached to within three hundred yards of the walls. 
The town was almost a heap of ruins; there was no rest either 


78 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


night or day for the soldiers; no time to bury the dead ; and 
the stench arising from their decaying bodies infected the whole 
atmosphere; and fires from hot shot and shells were of frequent 
occurrence. To add to their miseries, the Allies had destroyed 
the aqueduct which supplied water to the town, and it had to 
be obtained from wells outside the walls, where women and 
children came early 6very morning, and were permitted to 
return without molestation. 

On the 28th a terrible calamity occurred. A shell from the 
camp of the Allies struck upon the roof of the hospital in 
Sebastopol, shattered its walls, set it on fire, and it is said that 
two thousand wounded Russians perished in the flames. It ia 
believed that the Allies did not intentionally fire upon the build¬ 
ing, or else supposed the hospital flag had been raised over the 
principal magazine of the fortress, with the view of thus sav¬ 
ing it from destruction. 

We now come to the most important event of the siege. 


THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN. 

The bloodiest page in the great war drama is now to be 
given. We should have to go far back in history to find the 
record of a battle so fiercely contested as that of Inkermann. 
No instance is called to mind, this side of Thermopylae, where 
an invincible handful so successfully withstood the crushing 
force of overwhelming numbers. For eight terrible hours, 
14,000 of the Allies thrust back, with great slaughter, 60,000 
Russians, inspired by patriotism, religious fanaticism, and the 
stimulus of intoxication. 

For a day or two previously to the 5th of November, the 
Russians, who already possessed a large force within the pro¬ 
longed fortifications, and a large force toward the rear, in the 
neighborhood of Balaklava, had been observed to receive re¬ 
inforcements. estimated at 80,000 or 40,000, which, added to 
Liprandi’s corps on the Russian left, of 85,000 or more, and 
the garrison, would probably justify General Canrobert’s esti¬ 
mate of 100,000 men, in one way and another, arrayed against, 
the Allies on the memorable 5th of November. To augment 
the weight of the force brought down to crush the besiegers, 
the now useless army of the Danube had been withdrawn from 
Moldavia, leaving Bessarabia still defended by its special army • 
♦but not, it is supposed, entirely exhausting the reinforcements 
to be brought from the interior. The effort of Menchikoff to 
throw his strength into a succession of powerful, and, if possi¬ 
ble, decisive blows, is shown by the advance of Dannenberg'a 


THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN. 


79 


army in the very lightest order, augmenting the numbers about 
Sebastopol, without much regard either to their equipment or 
provision. The aim was to bear down by accumulated pres 
sure ; and it was with such a view that the batteries resumed 
the bombardment of the Allies in their besieged camp; a strong 
force from the garrison moved out to act with Dannenberg’s 
army, and Liprandi made a feint that might have been, had it 
succeeded, a penetrating attack toward the rear; and, as it was, 
it did engage the attention of a portion of the British and 
French forces. Thus the Allies were to be occupied all round, 
while the weak, unintrenched and unfortified poiut in their 
position toward the valley of the Inkermann was to be pene¬ 
trated by a force of great weight and momentum. 

It had rained incessantly the night before, and the early 
morning gave no promise of any cessation of the heavy showers 
which had fallen for the previous four-and-twenty hours. To 
wards dawn, a heavy fog settled down on the heights and on 
the valley of the Inkermann, and as day began to dawn, was 
<o thick that one could scarcely see two yards before him. 

At 4 o’clock, the bells of the churches in Sebastopol were 
heard ringing drearily through the cold night air, but the oc¬ 
currence has been so usual, that it excited no particular atten¬ 
tion. During the night, however, a sharp-eared sergeant, on 
an outlying picket of the Light Division, heard the sound of 
wheels in the valley below, as though they were approaching 
the position up the hill. He reported the circumstance to 
Major Bunbury; but it was supposed that the sound arose from 
ammunition carts or arabas going Into Sebastopol by the Ink¬ 
ermann road. Ho one suspected for a moment that enormous 
masses of Russians were creeping up the rugged sides of the 
heights over the valley of Inkermann on the undefended flank 
of the Second Division. There all was security and repose. 
Little did the slumbering troops in camp imagine that a subtle 
and indefatigable enemy were bringing into position an over¬ 
whelming artillery, ready to play upon their tents at the first 
glimpse of daylight. 

The Russians had well chosen the point of attack; it was 
the only ground where the English camp was exposed to sur¬ 
prise; for a number of ravines and unequal curves in the slope 
of the hill, toward the valley, lead up to the crest and summit, 
against the adverse side of which their flank was resting, with¬ 
out guns, entrenchments, abattis, or outlying defense of any 
kind. A battery was thrown up with sand-bags and gabions 
and fascines on the slope of the hill over Inkermann on the 
east, but no guns were mounted there, for Sir De Lacy Evans 
thought that two guns in such a position, without any works 


80 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


to support them, would only invite attack and capture.. This 
officer is severely censured for not having made more efficient 
preparations to repel an attack upon his position. 

It was a little after 5 o’clock this morning when Brigadier- 
General Codrington visited the outlying pickets of his own 
brigade of the Light Division. Having heard the report that 
“all was well,” he turned his horse’s head, and had proceeded 
but a few paces, when a sharp rattle of musketry was heard 
down the hill, to the left of the Light Division. The well- 
informed correspondents of the London Times and Morning 
Herald , who were on the ground, give a graphic description ol 
the scenes that followed. 

The Russians were advancing in force upon us ! Their gray 
great-coats rendered them almost invisible even when close at 
hand. The pickets of the 2d Division had scarcely made 
out the advancing line of infantry, who were clambering up 
the steep sides of the hill through a drizzling shower of rain, 
when they were forced to retreat by a close sharp volley of 
musketry, and were driven up toward the brow of the hill, 
contesting every step of it, and firing as long as they had a 
round of ammunition on the Russian advance. The pickets of 
the Light Division were assailed soon afterward, and were also 
obliged to retreat and fall back on their main bod}^, and. it was 
evident that a very strong sortie had been made upon the right 
of the position of the Allied armies, with the object of forcing 
them to raise the siege, and, if possible, of driving them into 
the sea. 

About the same time that the advance of the Russians on 
our right flank took place, a demonstration was made by the 
cavalry, artillery, and a few infantry in the valley against 
Balaklava, to divert the attention of the French on the heights 
above, and to occupy the Highland Brigade and Marines, but 
only an interchange of a few harmless rounds of cannon and 
musketry took place, and the enemy contented themselves 
with drawing up their cavalry in order of battle, supported bv 
field artillery, at the neck of the valley, in readiness to sweep 
over the heights and cut our retreating troops to pieces should 
the assault on our right be successful. 

A steamer with very heavy shell-guns and mortars was sent 
up by night to the head of the creek at Inkermann, and caused 
much injury throughout the day by the enormous shells she 
pitched right over the hill upon our men. Every thing that 
could be done to bind victory to their eagles—if they have any 
—was done by the Russian generals. The presence of their 
Grand Duke, Michael Nicholavitch, who told them that the Czar 
had issued orders that every Frenchman and Englishman was 


BATTLE OF INKERMANN. 


81 


to be driven into tbe sea ere tbe year closed, cheered the com¬ 
mon soldiers, who regard the son of the Emperor as an emana¬ 
tion of the divine presence. They had abundance of a coarser 
and more material stimulant, which was found in their can¬ 
teens and flasks; and, above all, the priests of the Greek 
Catholic Church “blessed” them ere they went forth upon their 
mission, and assured them of the aid and protection of the 
Most High. A mass was said for the army, and the joys of 
Heaven wece freely offered to those who might fall in the holy 
fight, and the favors of the Emperor were largely promised to 
those who might survive the bullets of a heretical enemy. 

The men in our camp had just begun to struggle with the 
rain in endeavoring to light their fires for breakfast, when the 
alarm was given that the Russians were advancing in force. 
Brigadier-General Pennefather, to whom the illness of Sir De 
Lacy Evans had given, for the time, the command of the 2d 
Division, at once got the troops under arms. One brigade, 
under Brigadier-General Adams, consisting of the 41st, 47th, 
and 49th regiments, was pushed on to the brow of the hill to 
check the advance of the enemy by the road through the 
brushwood from the valley. The other brigade, (Brigadier- 
General Pennefather’s own,) consisting of the 30th, 55th, and 
95th regiments, was led to operate on their flank. They were 
at once met with a tremendous fire of shell and round shot 
from guns which the enemy had posted on the high grounds in 
advance of our right, and it was soon found that the Russian; 
had brought up at least forty pieces of heavy artillery to bear 
upon us. 

Owing to the fog they took but a blind aim, yet neverthe¬ 
less their shot and shell flew in all directions for the space of 
nearly twenty minutes, while the cannonade in rear of the line 
at Balaklava was also redoubled; so that it seemed impossible 
to say which would prove the true and which the feint attack, 
or whether they were both true or both feints. The latter 
opinion was adopted by many, who said that the enemy would 
never dare attack us in our intrenchments, but rather distract 
our attention while a sortie was made from the town upon the 
trenches. As if to confirm this surmise, the instant the Canon- 
nade in the rear re-commenced, all forts, redoubts, and batteries 
round Sebastopol opened with a tremendous roar, which 
seemed to shake the earth. 

The scene at this moment was awful. The whole camp, 
except to the sea, seemed encircled by fire, as flash after flasLi 
lit up the foggy air in all directions. The uproar was per¬ 
fectly deafening *, for our batteries began to reply, and both 
gides firing shell increased the din two-fold. The shower of 
6 


62 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


these terrible explosives, which rained into the camp like hail, 
baffles description. No place was safe from them. They killed 
men and tore the tents to pieces on places which we had hith¬ 
erto considered as utterly out of range. Every minute or so 
they were compelled to throw themselves upon their faces as 
the terrible missiles came roaring through the air, and pitching 
within a few yards, sent their fragments humming over the spot 
where the men crouched close to the earth. For about ten 
minutes the stunning noise, confusion, and incessant bursting 
of shells made the whole place seem perfectly unearthly. The 
horror of the scene was increased by the obscurity of the morn¬ 
ing. It was not six o’clock, the darkness and fog were still 
thick, and through the heavy air the broad red flashes of the 
guns and their tremendous reports seemed ten times louder 
than ever. For all that could be seen or told to the contrary, 
the Russian batteries seemed within fifty yards of us on all 
sides. Of course, the troops remained under arms, but did not 
attempt to move until the sharp report of the musketry told 
where the real attack was to be met. 

Meantime the alarm had spread through the camps. Sir 
George Cathcart, with the greatest promptitude, turned out as 
many of his division as were not employed in the trenches, 
and led the portions of the 20th, 21st, 46th, 57th, 63d, and 
68th Eegiments, which were available, against the enemy, 
directing them to the left of the ground occupied by the 
columns of the 2d Division. It was intended that one 
brigade, under Brigadier-General Torrens, should move in 
support of the brigade under Brigadier-General Goldie; but it 
was soon found that the enemy were in such strength that the 
whole force of the division, which consisted of only 2200 men, 
must be vigorously used to repel them. Sir George Brown 
had rushed up to the front with his brave fellows of the Light 
Division—the remnants of the 7th Fusileers, of the 19th Regi¬ 
ment, of the 23d Regiment, of the 33d Regiment, and the 77th 
and the 88th Regiments, under Brigadiers Codrington and 
Buller. As they began to move across the ground of the 
2d Division, they were at once brought under fire by an 
unseen enemy. The gloomy character of the morning was 
unchanged. Showers of rain fell through the fogs, and turned 
the ground into a clammy soil, like a freshly-ploughed field; and 
the Russians, who had, no doubt, taken the bearings of the 
ground ere they placed their guns, fired at random indeed, but 
with too much effect on our advancing columns. While all 
the army was thus in motion, the Duke of Cambridge was not 
behind-hand in bringing up the Guards under Brigadier Ben- 
tinck—all of his division now left with him, as the Highland 


BATTLE OF INKERMANN. 


83 


e*s are under Sir Colin Campbell at Balaklava. These 
SDleiidid troops with the greatest rapidity and ardor rushed to 
the front on the right of the 2d Division, and gained the 
summit of the hills, toward which two columns of the Russians 
were struggling in the closest order of which the nature of the 
ground would admit. The 3d Division, under Sir R. Eng¬ 
land, was also got under arms as a reserve, and one portion of 
it, comprising the 50th, part of the 28th and of the 4th Regi¬ 
ments, were engaged with the enemy ere the fight was over. 

And now commenced the boldest struggle ever witnessed 
since war cursed the earth. It has been doubted by military 
historians if any enemy have ever stood a charge with the 
bayonet; but here the bayonet was often the only weapon 
employed in conflicts of the most obstinate and deadly charac¬ 
ter. We have been pi one to believe that no foe could ever 
withstand the British soldier wielding his favorite weapon, and 
that at Maida alone did the enemy ever cross bayonets with 
him; but at the battle of Inkermann not only did we charge 
in vain—not only were desperate encounters between masses 
of men maintained with the bayonet alone—but we were 
obliged to resist bayonet to bayonet the Russian infantry again 
and again, as they charged us with incredible fury and deter¬ 
mination. 

It was six o’clock when all the head-quarter carflp was roused 
by roll after roll of musketry on the right, and by the sharp 
report of field-guns. Lord Raglan was informed that the ene¬ 
my was advancing in force; and soon after seven o’clock he 
rode toward the scene of action, followed by his staff, and ac¬ 
companied by Sir J. Burgoyne, Brigadier-General Strangways, 
R. A., and several aides-de-camp. As they approached the 
volume of sound, the steady, unceasing thunder of gun, and 
rifle, and musket, told that the engagement was at its height. 
The shell of the Russians, thrown with great precision, burst 
so thickly among the troops, that the noise resembled the con¬ 
tinuous discharges of cannon, and the massive fragments inflicted 
death on every side. One of the first things the Russians did, 
when a break in the fog enabled them to see the camp of the 
2d Division, was to open fire on the tents with round shot 
and large shell, and tent after tent was blown down, torn to 
pieces, or sent into the air, while the men engaged in camp 
duties, and the unhappy horses tethered up in the lines, were 
killed or mutilated. 

Colonel Gambier was at once ordered to get up two heavy 
guns (18 pounders) on the rising ground, and to reply to a fire 
which our light guns were utterly inadequate to meet. As he 


84 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


was engaged in this duty, and was exerting himself with Gapi 
Daguilar to urge them forward, Col. Gambier was severely but 
not dangerously wounded, and was obliged to retire. His place 
was taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, and the conduct of 
that officer in directing the fire of those pieces, which had the 
most marked effect in deciding the fate of the day, was such as 
to elicit the admiration of the army, and as to deserve the 
thanks of every man engaged in that bloody fray. But long 
ere these guns had been brought up, there had been a great 
slaughter of the enemy, and a heavy loss of our own men. Our 
generals could not see where to go. They could not tell where 
the enemy were—from what side they were coming, and where 
going to. In darkness, gloom, and rain, they had to lead our 
lines through thick, scrubby bushes and thorny brakes, which 
broke our ranks and irritated the men, while every pace was 
marked by a corpse or man wounded from an enemy whose 
position was only indicated by the rattle of musketry, and the 
rush of ball and shell. 

Sir George Cathcart, seeing his men disordered by the fire 
of a large column of Russian infantry which was outflanking 
them, while portions of the various regiments composing his 
division were maintaining an unequal struggle with an over¬ 
whelming force, rode down into the ravine in which they were 
engaged, to rally them. He perceived at the same time that 
the Russians had actually gained possession of a portion of the 
hill in rear of one flank of his division, but still his stout heart 
never failed him for a moment. He rode at their head encou¬ 
raging them, and when a cry arose that the ammunition was 
failing, he said coolly, “ Have you not got your bayonets ?” As 
he led on his men, it was observed that another body of men 
nad gained the top of the hill behind them on the right, but it 
was impossible to tell whether they were friends or foes. A 
deadly volley was poured into our scattered regiments. Sir 
George cheered them and led them back up the hill; but a 
flight of bullets passed where he rode, and he fell from his 
horse close to the Russian columns. The men had to fight 
their way through a host of enemies, and lost fearfully. They 
were surrounded and bayoneted on all sides, and won their des 
perate way up the hill, with diminished ranks, and the loss of 
near five hundred men. Sir George Cathcart’s body was after¬ 
wards recovered, with a bullet-wound in the head, and three 
bayonet-wounds in the body. In this struggle, where the Rus¬ 
sians fought with the greatest ferocity, and bayoneted the 
wounded as they fell, Colonel Swyny, of the 63d, a most gal¬ 
lant officer; Lieut. Dowling, 20th; and Major Wynne, 68th ; 


BATTLE OF INKERMANN. 


St 

met their death; and Brigadier Goedie, of the 57th Regiment, 
received the wounds of which he has since died. 

The conflict on the right was equally uncertain and equallj 
bloody. In the Light Division, the 88th got so far into the 
front, that they were surrounded and put into utter confusion, 
when four companies of the 77th, under Major Straton, charged 
the Russians, broke them, and relieved their comrades. The 
fight had not long commenced, ere it was evident that the Rus¬ 
sians had received orders to fire on all mounted officers. Sir 
G. Brown was struck by a shot, which went through his arm 
and struck his side. I saw with regret his pale but sternly 
composed face, as his body was borne by me on a litter, early 
in the day, his white hair flickering in the breeze; for I knew 
that we had lost the services of a good soldier that day. Fur¬ 
ther to the right, a contest, the like of which, perhaps, never 
took place before, was going on between the Guards and dense 
columns of Russian infantry of five times their number. The 
Guards had charged them and driven them back, when they 
perceived that the Russians had outflanked them. They were 
out of ammunition, too. 'they were uncertain whether there 
were friends or foes in the rear. They had no support, no re¬ 
serve, and they were fighting with the bayonet against an ene¬ 
my who stoutly contested every inch of ground, when the 
corps of another Russian column appeared on their right, far in 
the rear. Then a fearful mitraille was poured into them, and 
volleys of rifle and musketry. The Guards were broken; they 
had lost twelve officers, who had fell in the field; they had left 
oue half of their number on the ground, and they retired along 
the lower road of the valley. They were soon reinforced, how¬ 
ever, and speedily avenged their loss. The French advanced 
about ten o’clock, and turned the flank of the enemy. 

The 2d Division, in the centre of the line, were hardly 
pressed. The 41st Regiment, in particular, were exposed to a 
terrible fire; and the 95th were in the middle of such disorgan¬ 
izing volleys that they only mustered sixty-four men when 
paraded at two o’clock. In fact, the whole of the Division 
numbered only 300 men when assembled by Major Eman, in 
rear of their camp, after the fight was over. The regiments did 
not take their colors into the battle; but the officers neverthe¬ 
less were picked off wherever they went, and it did not require 
the color-staff to indicate their presence. Our ambulances were 
soon filled; and, ere nine o’clock, they were busily engaged i*i 
carrying loads of men, all covered with blood, and groaning, 
to the rear of the line. About 9J o’clock, Lord Raglan and i. 
staff were assembled on a knoll, in the vain hope of getting a 
glimpse of the battle which was raging below them Here Gen. 


S6 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


Strangways was mortally wounded, and I am told that he met 
his death in the following way: A shell came right in among 
the staff; it exploded in Captain Somerset’s horse, ripping him 
open; a portion of the shell tore off the leather overalls of 
Captain Somerset’s trowsers, it then struck down Captain Gor¬ 
don’s horse and killed him at once, and then blew away General 
Strangway’s leg, so that it hung by a shred of flesh and a bit of 
cloth from the skin. The poor old General never moved a 
muscle of his face. He said merely, in a gentle voice, “ Will 
any one be hind enough to lift me off my horse ?” He was taken 
down and laid on the ground, while his life-blood ebbed fast, 
and at last he was carried to the rear. But the gallant old man 
had not sufficient strength to undergo an operation, and in two 
hours he had sunk to rest, leaving behind him a memory which 
will ever be held dear by every officer and man of the army. 

The fight about the battery before alluded to was most san¬ 
guinary. It was found that there was no banquette to stand 
upon, and that the men inside could not fire upon the enemy. 
The Russians advanced mass after mass of infantry. As fast 
as one column was broken and repulsed, another took its place. 
For three long hours about 8500 British infantry contended 
against at least four times their number. Ho wonder that, at 
times, they were compelled to retire. But they came to the charge 
again. The admirable devotion of the officers, who knew they 
were special objects of attack, can never be too highly praised. 
Nor can the courage and steadiness of the few men who were left 
to follow them in this sanguinary assault on the enemy be suffi¬ 
ciently admired. At one time, the Russians succeeded in get¬ 
ting up close to the guns of Capt. Wodehouse’s and of Capt. Tur¬ 
ner’s batteries, in the gloom of the morning. Uncertain whether 
they were friends or foes, our artillerymen hesitated to fire. 
The Russians charged them suddenly, bore all resistance down 
before them, drove away or bayoneted the gunners, and suc¬ 
ceeded in spiking some of the guns. Their columns gained the 
hill, and for a few moments the fate of the day trembled in the 
balance; but Adam’s Brigade, Pennefather’s Brigade, and the 
Light Division, made another desperate charge,while Dickson’s 
guns swept their columns, and their Guards, with undiminished 
valor and steadiness, though with a sadly-decreased front, 
pushed on again to meet their bitter enemies. The rolling of 
musketry, the clash of steel, and the pounding of guns were 
deafening ; and the Russians, as they charged up the heights, 
ye r d like demons. They advanced, halted, advanced again, 
.ece ved and returned a close and deadly fire; but theMinie is 
.he king of weapons—Inkermann proved it. 

The regiments of the 4th Division and the Marines, armed 


BATTLE OF INKERMANN. 


87 


with the old and much-belauded Brown Bess, could do nothing 
with their thin line of fire against the massive multitudes of the 
Muscovite infantry; but the volleys of the Minie rifle cleft them 
like the hand of the destroying angel, and they fell like leaves 
in autumn before them. About ten o’clock, a body of French 
infantry appeared on our right, a joyful sight to our struggling 
regiments. The Zouaves came on at the pas de charge. Th® 
French artillery had already begun to play with deadly effect on 
the right wing of the Russians. Three battalions of the Chas¬ 
seurs d’Orleans (I believe they had No. 6 on their buttons) 
rushed by, the light of battle on their faces. They were accom¬ 
panied by a battalion of Chasseurs Indigenes—the Arab Se¬ 
poys of Algiers. Their trumpets sounded above the din of 
battle, and when we watched their eager advance right on 
the flank of the enemy, we knew the day was won. Assailed 
in front by our men—broken in several places by the impetu¬ 
osity of our charge, renewed again and again—attacked by the 
French infantry on the right, and by artillery all along the 
line, the Russians began to retire, and, at twelve o’clock, they 
were driven pell-mell down the hill towards the valley, where 
pursuit would have been madness, as the roads were all covered 
by their artillery. They left mounds of dead behind them. 
Long ere they fled, the Chasseurs d’Afrique charged them most 
brilliantly over the ground, difficult and broken as it was, and 
inflicted great loss on them; while the effect of this rapid 
attack, aided by the advance of our troops, secured our guns, 
which were only spiked with wood, and were soon rendered fit 
for service. Our own cavalry, the remnant of the Light Brigade, 
were moved into a position where it was hoped they might be 
of service; but they were too few to attempt any thing, and 
while they were drawn up they lost several horses and some 
men. One officer, Cornet Cleveland, was struck by a piece 
of shell in the side, and has since expired. There are now 
only two officers left with the fragment of the 17th Lancers— 
Captain Godfrey Morgan and Cornet George Wombwell. At 
twelve o’clock, the battle of Inkerman seemed to have been 
won; but the day, which had cleared up for an hour previously 
so as to enable us to see the enemy and meet him, again became 
obscured. Rain and fog set in, and as we could not pursue the 
Russians, who were retiring under the shelter of their artillery, 
we had formed in front of our lines, and were holding the bat¬ 
tle-field so stoutly contested, when the enemy, taking the advan¬ 
tage of our quietude, again advanced, while their guns pushed 
forward and opened a tremendous fire upon us. General Can- 
robert, who never quitted Lord Raglan for much of the early 
part of the day, at once directed the French to advance and 


88 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


outflank the enemy. In his efforts he was ably seconded by 
General Bosquet, whose devotion was noble. Nearly all his 
mounted escort were down beside and behind him. General 
Canrobert was slightly wounded. His immediate attendants 
suffered severely. The renewed assault was so admirably 
repulsed, that the Russians sullenly retired, still protected by 
their crushing artillery. The Russians, about 10, made a sortie 
on the French lines, and traversed two parallels before they 
could be resisted. They were driven back at last with great 
loss, and as they retired they blew up some of the mines inside 
the Flagstaff Fort, evidently afraid that the French would enter 
pell-mell after them. At one o’clock the Russians were again 
retiring. At 40 minutes past one, Dickson’s two guns smashed 
their artillery, and they limbered up, leaving five tumbrils and 
one gun-carriage on the field. 


THE FEROCITY OF THE COMBATANTS. 

The battle of Inkermann, says another eye-witness, admits of 
no description. It was a series of dreadful deeds of daring, 
of sanguinary hand-to-hand fights, of despairing rallies, of 
desperate assaults—in glens and valleys, in brushwood-glades 
and remote dells, hidden from all human eyes, and from which 
the conquerors, Russians or British, issued only to engage fresh 
fbes, till our old supremacy, so rudely assailed, was triumph¬ 
antly asserted, and the battalions of the Czar gave way before 
our steady courage and the chivalrous fire of France. 

An English officer who participated in and was severely 
wounded in the battle, but who has subsequently returned to Lon¬ 
don, bears still more emphatic testimony to the fury of the con¬ 
test. I have, he says, already read the accounts forwarded by 
newspaper correspondents—I have already seen the enumeration 
of the Russians slain; but, on my conscience, I believe no descrip¬ 
tion, no enumeration, has at all reached the mark. I was in every 
battle of the Peninsula—I have seen horrors enough for any 
©ne man’s life ; but never, never, did I witness any thing ap¬ 
proaching to the carnage, the fury, the fiendish deviltry of that 
drizzling morning of the 5th. I saw whole ranks battle with 
their musket-stocks at men who played at quarter-staff; I saw 
them hang on each other like gnashing bull-dogs, and roll on the 
ground over and over again, stabbing, tearing, cutting, and 
mangling like men who had lost every characteristic of hu¬ 
manity, and acquired more than tiger ferocity. 


FIELD AFTER A SORTIE. 






























































































































































































































































































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AFTER THE BATTLE. 


89 


AFTER THE BATTLE—A TERRIBLE PICTURE. 

Here is a picture which must have frozen the blood of the 
spectator: . 

“ Toward evening I walked over the battle-field; but I can 
never describe to your readers what it was like. Its horrors 
beggar all description—12,000 dead and wounded English, 
French, and Russian, lay upon the heights, and the groans and 
screams of agony were rising up from all parts. Alma was a 
mere skirmish to it. What made the scene worse was, that the 
Russians, from the ships in the harbor and the fortifications to 
the north, were throwing a perfect storm of shell all over the 
field, killing their own and our wounded. 

Later the same evening, I took a second survey of the scene. 
A considerable number, some 800 or 1000 Russian killed 
and wounded, were lying among our tents, and here also were 
many, too many, corpses of Zouaves and French Infantry of the 
line. All our wounded had been removed, and the wounded 
of the enemy were being gathered in. The kindness and atten¬ 
tion of our fellows to their helpless enemies was beyond all 
praise. They brought them water, got knapsacks to put under 
their heads, and borrowed blankets in which to cover them 
from the raw night air ; here and there small groups of them 
stood absorbed in pity round some prostrate foe, to whom their 
kindness came too late, and who, shot either through the head 
or lungs, gasped out his existence in painful sobs, or terminated 
it in a horrible convulsion which made your blood curdle to 
hear. 

A little above the line of tents was the brow of the hill over¬ 
looking Inkermann Lights. Here was the spot where the Allied 
artillery engaged that of the enemy after the retreat, and here 
the sight was sickening, indeed. There is nothing so awful as 
the spectacle of the bodies of those who have been struck down 
by round shot or shell. One poor fellow of the 95th had been 
struck by two 24-pounders in the head and body. A shell after¬ 
ward burst on him and tore him to pieces, and it was only by 
the fragments of cloth, with the regimental buttons adhering, 
that you could tell the rough bloody mass which lay in the 
road had ever been a human being. But it is useless to dwell 
on these sickening details; suffice to say that here, among the 
carcasses of some 200 killed and wounded horses, lay the bodies 
of our brave English and French artillerymen, all more or less 
frightfully mutilated. Some had their heads taken off at the 
neck, as if with an axe; others their legs gone from the hips; 
others their arms, and others, again, who were hit in the chest 


90 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


or stomach, were literally as smashed as if they had been 
crashed in a machine. But it was not alone the Allies who lay 
here ; on the contrary, there were ten Russian corpses for one 
of theirs ; but the latter were all killed by musketry before the 
artillery came up. On this spot the Russians kept dropping 
shells the whole night; but their vindictive efforts were in vain : 
all who lay within reach of their missiles had suffered the last 
which they were to endure on earth. 

Passing up the road to Sebastopol between heaps of Russian 
dead, you came to the spot where the Guards had been com¬ 
pelled to retire from the defense of the wall above Inkermann 
Valley. Here our dead were nearly as numerous as the enemy’s. 
Across the path, side by side, lay five Guardsmen, who were 
killed by one round shot as they advanced to charge the enemy. 
They lay on their faces, in the same attitude, with their muskets 
tightly grasped in both hands, and all had the same grim, pain¬ 
ful frown upon their features, like men who were struck down 
in the act of closing with their foes. Beyond this, the Russian 
Guardsmen and line regiments lay as thick as leaves, intermixed 
with dead and wounded horses. The latter, with fractured 
limbs, were now and then rising, and, after staggering a few 
steps, rolling over among the corpses, snorting and plunging fear- 
fully. 

Up to the right of the wall was the way to the two-gun 
battery. The path lay through thick brushwood; but the 
path was slippery with blood, and the brushwood was broken 
down and encumbered with the dead. The scene from the 
battery was awful—awful beyond description. I stood upon 
the parapet at about nine at night, and felt my heart sink as I 
gazed upon the scene of carnage around. The moon was at its 
full, and showed every object as if by the light of day. Facing 
me was the Valley of Inkermann, with the Chernaya like a 
band of silver flowing gracefully between the hills, which for 
varied and picturesque beauty might vie with any part of the 
world. Yet I shall never recall the memory of Inkermann 
Valley with any but feelings of loathing and horror; for 
around the spot from which I surveyed the scene lay upwards 
of 5000 bodies. Many badly wounded also lay there; and 
their low, dull moans of mortal agony struck with horrible 
distinctness upon the ear; or, worse still, the hoarse, gurgling 
cry and vehement struggles of those who were convulsed be¬ 
fore they passed away. Around the hill small groups of men, 
with hospital-stretchers, were searching out for those who still 
survived; and others again, with lanterns, busily turning 
over the dead, looking for the bodies of officers who were 
known to be killed, but who had not been found. Here also 


ENGLISH OFFICERS. 


91 


were English women, whose husbands had not returned, hurry* 
ing about with loud lamentations, turning the faces of our dead 
to the moonlight, and eagerly seeking for what they feared tc 
find. These latter were far more to be pitied than the inani 
mate forms of those who lay slaughtered around. The ambu 
lances, as fast as they came up, received their load of sufferers, 
and even blankets were employed to convey the wounded to 
the rear. Outside the battery the Russians lay two and three 
deep. Inside the place was literally full with bodies of Russian 
Guardsmen, 55th and 20th. The fine, tall forms of our poor 
fellows could be distinguished at a glance, though the gray 
great-coats, stained with blood, rendered them alike externally. 
They lay as they fell, in heaps ; sometimes our men over three 
or four Russians, and sometimes a Russian over three or four 
of ours. Some had passed away with a smile on their faces, 
and seemed as if asleep; others were horribly contorted, and 
with distended eyes and swollen features, appeared to have 
died in agony, but defying to the last. Some lay as if pre¬ 
pared for burial, and as though the hands of relatives had 
arranged their mangled limbs, while others, again, were in 
almost startling positions, half-standing, or kneeling, clutching 
their weapons, or drawing a cartridge. Many lay with both 
their hands extended toward the sky, as if to avert a blow, or 
utter a prayer, while others had a malignant scowl of mingled 
fear and hatred, as if, indeed, they died despairing. The moon¬ 
light imparted an aspect of unnatural paleness to their forms ; 
and, as the cold, damp wind swept around the hills, and waved 
the boughs above their upturned faces, the shadows gave a 
horrible appearance of vitality; and it seemed as if the dead 
were laughing, and about to rise. This was not the case on 
one spot, but all over the bloody field. 

The loss of the Allies in the day’s battle was about 5000; 
that of the Russians not far from 15,000. The proportionate 
loss of officers by the Allies was excessive. From their con¬ 
spicuous uniforms, they are always a fair mark for the Russian 
sharp-shooters, and these latter apparently neglect no opportu¬ 
nity of picking them off. The Russian officers, on the con¬ 
trary, are not distinguishable from common soldiers by their 
dress.” 

ENGLISH OFFICERS — HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES, AND MORTAL 
DISASTERS. 

The Duke had his horse completely smashed under him 
by a round-shot, and the fall of the animal bruised his leg 
severely. Beyond this he was not hurt. Major Macdonald, 
a so, as at Alma, had his horse killed under him. In fact, 


92 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


nearly all tlie staff-officers were either wounded or had their 
horses killed. Perhaps there never was an infantry action in 
which so many chargers and artillery horses were destroyed. 
Altogether, with staff, we lost about 150, the French about 
100, and the Russians nearly 400 horses. Their mangled 
bodies quite covered the ground. Lord Raglan and staff were 
in the front of the troops, and in the very thickest of the fire. 
So hot was the cannonade and musketry round his lordship, 
that no one can understand how he escaped uninjured An eight- 
inch shell came roaring and hissing along the ground, passed 
between the legs of Lord Raglan’s horse, and exploded behind 
him and the staff. They were covered for the moment with 
dust and smoke, but fortunately escaped unhurt. Major-Gene¬ 
ral Strangways was killed close beside Lord Raglan. When 
raised from the ground he was perfectly calm and collected, 
and appeared not to suffer in the least. His thigh was fractured 
near the hip-joint, and the brave old soldier looked at the 
mangled limb with perfect composure, saying he knew the 
wound was mortal. He died in about half an hour after 
the amputation was performed. Sir George Cathcart, who was 
only a few paces in front of Lord Raglan, was shot through 
the heart, and fell from his horse a dead man. Colonel Sey¬ 
mour, who was with him, instantly dismounted, and was en¬ 
deavoring to raise the body, when he himself received a ball 
which fractured his leg. He fell to the ground beside his 
general, and a Russian officer and five or six men running in, 
bayoneted him, and cut him to pieces as he lay helpless. 
General Cathcart’s corpse was also bayoneted in five or six 
places. I have mentioned in my letter of this morning, the 
cold-blooded cruelty with which the enemy treated all the 
wounded who fell into their hands. In not one solitary in¬ 
stance, as far as can yet be ascertained, was a man spared. 

REGIMENTS BADLY CUT UP. 

The Coldstream Guards, when they returned from the two- 
gun battery, leaving about 100 wounded behind, were mad¬ 
dened to perceive that the instant the enemy occupied the 
place they commenced massacring all the poor defenseless 
objects. The conduct of the Coldstream Guards should im¬ 
mortalize their name. They fought literally to the death. 
They went into action with 16 officers and about 400 men, and 
out of this small number had 8 officers killed, 5 wounded, and 
upwards of 200 rank and file killed and wounded. The Gre¬ 
nadiers and Fusilers also performed prodigies. On the whole, 
the brigade of Guards lost 13 officers killed, 15 wounded, and 


RUSSIAN BRUTALITIES. 


93 


580 rank and file, out of about 1600 men engaged. The 
Coldstreams charged the enemy at the point of the bayonet 
eleven times. At each time the Russians crossed bayonets, 
and fought fiercely, but were slaughtered like sheep by our 
gallant fellows. The three battalions of Guards now barely 
mustered 1000 effective men. After the Guards, the 2d and 
4th divisions have suffered most. The 95th and 30th regi¬ 
ments are the principal sufferers, having lost most of their 
officers and men. The unfortunate 23d regiment of the Light 
Division, which was so terribly cut up at Alma, has again lost 
heavily. The 20th and 55th Regiments, of the 4th division, 
have lost many men and officers, as well as the 41st, 47th, and 
49th Regiments, of the 2d Division. 

RUSSIAN BRUTALITIES. 

A private letter says: “I can not mention without horror 
the atrocious conduct of the Russian soldiers to such of our 
wounded as were passed by them in the repeated changes of 
ground during the engagement. Nearly every officer and 
soldier was bayoneted on the ground, and some even mutilated 
to a great extent. Captain Sir R. L. Newman, of the Grena¬ 
dier Guards, who was wounded in the leg, received so many 
bayonet thrusts, and was otherwise so mutilated, that the body 
was scarcely recognizable. The adjutant of the 95th Regiment 
was killed under circumstances of similar atrocity. The lieu- 
tenant-colonel of the 47th Regiment was surrounded and taken 
prisoner, dragged from his horse, and bayoneted on the spot. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Carpenter, of the 41st Regiment, was being 
conveyed wounded from the field by four of his men, when 
the Russians surrounded him; the men left him to his fate, 
when one Russian bayoneted him in the back, another clubbed 
his musket, and struck him on the head with the intention of 
dashing his brains out, but by great good fortune the blow only 
rendered him insensible, in which state he was found, and it is 
hoped he will yet recover. Captain Crosse, 88th, was wounded 
in the leg, and surrounded by six Russians, who came to dis¬ 
patch him. Drawing his revolver, he shot three of them dead 
upon the spot, wounded the fourth, and the other two took to 
their heels. Great numbers of wounded soldiers were treated 
in the same manner.” 

FATALITY OF THB MINIE RIFLE. 

Our Minid bullets have mangled the Russians in the same 
awftu manner as at Alma. Nearly all our dead were killed 


94 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


by shot and shell. Some of them were so mangled as barely 
to be recognizable for human remains. It is awful to stand on 
one of the heights and look over the field. The ground is 
hidden by the corpses. Bound the little battery which was 
taken and retaken so often, are 2500 dead Bussians. For 
about fifty yards around the outside of the battery, the corpses 
literally lie two and three deep. Many of the wounded were 
afterward killed by the shells which the Bussians threw from 
the forts to the north of the harbor. 


PERSONNEL OF THE RUSSIAN SOLDIERS. 


The Bussian soldiers were infinitely inferior in appearance 
to those we met at Alma. In all that relates to discipline and 
courage, our late antagonists were far superior. They were all 
clean, but ragged in the extreme. None had knapsacks, but 
merely a little canvas-bag of that disgusting, nauseous-looking 
stuff they call their bread. No other provisions were founa 
on any. The knapsacks, I presume, were left behind, in order 
that they might scale the heights on our left with greater 
facility. Every man wore strong, well-made Wellington boots, 
of a stout but rough-looking brown leather. On none, that I 
have heard of, were found either money or books. On many 
were miniatures of women, and locks of hair. They appear to 
have been veteran troops, as a large number bore the scars of 
previous wounds. The dead officers, as at Alma, were with 
i. ' 1 ''‘stinguished from the men. Their officers 



It is said that the Bussian soldiers had been liberally sup¬ 
plied with liquor previous to the commencement of the attack 
of the 5th. Their continued and loud shouting, and the im¬ 
petuosity of their attack, render it probable that they were 
under the influence of some artificial stimulus of the sort. In 
the canteens, also, of many of the killed on the field was found 
a mixture of raki and water. The men who have fallen into 
our hands, though generally of short stature, are of sturdy 
frames, with broad chests and well-developed, muscular legs. 
Their clothing is well made and warm ; and, though coarse in 
texture, an amply sufficient protection against the weather 
The voluminous folds of their great-coats, the sleeves of which 
are doubled back nearly as far as the elbows, while the skirts 
descend to the ankles—throw the “ skimping” ordnance great¬ 
coats issued to our troops completely in the shade as regards 
comfort and warmth. To prevent the length of the coat incon¬ 
veniencing the wearer when walking, the skirt all around is 
made by a very simple contrivance to loop up above the knees. 


GETTING ACCUSTOMED TO BULLETS. 


95 


So, also, the coat can be worn loose like a cloak, or drawn in 
at the waist. The men carry with them mittens of thick black 
cloth, the four fingers being together in one, the thumb in 
another division of the glove. 

A GALLANT DEED. 

Suddenly the smoke cleared away, and we discovered the 
Russian infantry’ in great force within ten yards of us. I shall 
never forget the aspect of these fellows, dressed in their long 
gray coats and flat glazed caps, firing most deliberately at our 
poor gunners, and picking them down like so many crows. 
We at this time were under a very heavy fire of shot and shell. 
Major Townsend saw at once the critical position of his guns, 
and most wisely gave the order to retire, as we were quite 
unsupported; but too late—the enemy’s skirmishers had come 
up to the guns. However, five out of the six escaped; and 
one of our men seeing the last, as was then supposed, certain 
to be taken, judiciously spiked it. The gun belonged to a 
division of our battery, to which was attached young Miller, 
one of our lieutenants; and poor Major Townsend, turning 
round his horse, seeing what was likely to occur, cried out, 
“You won’t disgrace me.” The words were hardly out of his 
mouth when a shell burst in among us, and one unfortunate 
fragment struck him in the head, and literally crushed it to 
pieces, of course killing him immediately. Miller drew his 
sword, and single-handed, galloped his horse towards the gun, 
riding down one and cutting down a second Russian. He 
alone turned aside a dozen of the enemy, and we recovered 
the gun. Was not this a most plucky thing to do? He 
returned with his gun, without having received even a scratch. 

GETTING ACCUSTOMED TO BULLETS, AND TAKING THINGS ^ 
COOLLY. 

When we got under fire of the enemy's large guns, we de¬ 
ployed into line and lay down, and remained one hour in this 
recumbent position, with shot, shell, grape, canister, and every 
infernal invention for the destruction of human life, flying over 
and into us, and all about us, fired from 32, 24, and 18 pound¬ 
ers. Just when we lay down, an 18-pound shot struck and 
went through one of my front rank men, carrying away his 
pouch and ammunition ; he was the third man on my right, and 
I thought that things were becoming serious. We lay still for 
half an hour before any of our artillery came up, and when 
they did open fire, (as you may imagine,) nine and six-pound- 


96 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


ers could not do much against heavy guns, securely posted in 
a commanding position, and well-worked. After lying down 
for about ten minutes, I began to get a little accustomed to tha 
whiz of the shot and the screech of the canister, etc., over my 
head; and, consoling myself with the idea that if there was ona 
of them meant for me, I could not possibly avoid it, I took out 
my opera-glass and watched the proceedings of the enemy. In 
a very short time I knew every gun that would bear on my 
position, and you may imagine my feelings when I saw those 
guns discharged. The intervals between the discharge and the 
arrival of the shot (which was sure to pitch somewhere near 
me) were not, I confess, the happiest moments of my life. I 
can’t describe the feeling exactly. It was not fear, and still 
it was something of the same nature, I suppose; at all events, 
it was very unpleasant. If you wish to have my autograph 
you had better keep this, as not a day and scarcely an hour 
passes without some deadly missile passing close to us, and 
perhaps some day one of them may take a fancy to my head, 
and then you will not hear any more from “ your own corre¬ 
spondent at the seat of war.” Just this moment two shell burst 
close to where I am sitting, and one of the men has brought 
me a very ugly-looking fragment of one of them. I am writing 
this on my knee, under a stone wall, thrown up for the defense 
of the picket. My back is nearly broken, and I am perfectly 
bothered and confused by the incessant firing from our lines 
and the town, which is now going on for its sixth day. I think 
the Eussian fire is slackening, but this may be fancy. I shall 
now go for a change, to see if there are any Eussians moving 
about in our neighborhood. 

A DRAGOON CAPTAIN’S SENSATIONS IN A CAVALRY CHARGE 

“ You have, I presume, devoured all the accounts which have 
been sent home as to our glorious charge. Oh! such a charge! 
Never think of the gallop and trot which you have often wit 
nessed in the Phoenix Park when you desire to form a notion of 
a genuine blood-hot, all-mad charge, such as that I have come 
out of—with a few lance-prods, minus some gold lace, a helmet 
chain, and Brown Bill’s (the charger’s) right ear. From the 
moment we dashed at the enemy, whose position and so forth, 
you doubtless know as much about as I can tell you, I knew 
nothing, but that I was impelled by some irresistible force 
onward, and by some invisible and imperceptible influence, to 
crush every obstacle which stumbled before my good sword 
and brave old charger. I never in my life experienced 
such a sublime sensation as in the moment of the charge 


HORSE INCIDENTS. 


97 


Some fellows talk of its being ‘demoniac.’ I know this, 
that it was such as made me a match for any two ordinary 
men, and gave me such an amount of glorious indifference 
as to life, as I thought it impossible to be master of. It 
would do your Celtic heart good to hear the most magnifi¬ 
cent cheer with which we dashed into what P-W- 

calls ‘the gully scrimmage.’ Forward—dash—bang—clank, 
and there we were in the midst of such smoke, cheer, 
and clatter, as never before stunned a mortal’s ear. It was 
glorious 1 Down, one by one—aye, two by two—fell the 
thick-skulled and ever-numerous Cossacks, and other lads of 
the tribe of old Nick. Down, too, alas! fell many a hero with 
a warm Celtic heart, and more than one fell, screaming loud 
for victory. I could not pause. It was all push, wheel, 
phrensy, strike, and down, down, down they went. Twice I 
was unhorsed, and more than once I had to grip my sword 
tighter, the blood of foes streaming down over the hilt, and 
running up.my very sleeve. 

“ I can not depict my feelings when we returned. I sat down 
completely exhausted and unable to eat, though deadly hun¬ 
gry. All my uniform, my hands, my very face were bespat¬ 
tered with blood. It was that of the enemy 1 Grand idea! 
But my feelings, they were full of that exultation which it is 
impossible to describe. At least twelve Russians were sent 
wholly out of the ‘ way of the war’ by my good steel alone, 
and at least as many more put on the passage to that peaceful 
exit by the same excellent weapon. So also can others say. 
What a thing to reflect on! I have almost grown a soldier 
philosopher, and most probably will, one of these days, if the 
bullets which are flying about so abundantly give me time to 
brush up.” 

HORSE INCIDENTS. 

Fictionists are shabby judges of true bravery. No novel 
ever had a sham hero who comes up to the realities I have wit¬ 
nessed. One of my troop, for instance, had his horse shot 
under him in the melee. “Bloody wars!” he roared, “this 
won’t do;” and right at a Russian he ran, pulled him from his 
horse by the sword-hand in the most extraordinary manner, 
then deliberately cutting off his head as he came down, 
vaulted into the saddle, and turning the Russian charger 
against its late friends, fought his way. This took less time to 
do than I to tell it I saw another of our fellows, unhorsed 
and wounded, creep under a Russian charger, and run the 
sword up his belly. The animal plunged and fell on his 
slayer, crushing him to pieces. 

7 


98 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


A FRENCH RUSE. 

The French are very good soldiers, and very kind and 
good natured. They will do any thing for the English. They 
fight to the last man for the English. The Eussians came on 
ns several times in the middle of the night, and we all had to 
turn out. But the French laid a plot for them, and they have 
never disturbed us since in the night. The French made it up 
with some of our riflemen and Highland regiments; and they 
moved from their camps about a mile nearer the Eussians, and 
kindled a great many fires. So the Eussians thought to have 
a fine grab when they saw the fires. They came up as usual. 
The French retreated a certain distance from the fires. Upon 
which the Eussians came up, and saw nobody there. They 
then came on further from the fires ; the French could see them 
quite plainly between them and the fires. The French now 
went to work, and fired into them, and shot a great many as 
they retreated. The Eifles, and Highland regiments then came 
up behind them, and gave them a great beating, ahd then the 
cannon fired upon them, and made a terrible slaughter among 
them. 

Thus far we have faithfully detailed the Battles of the Crimea, 
with all their terrible and singular incidents. But the end is 
not yet. We may be called upon to add another chapter to 
the great War Drama now being enacted in that region. 


THE SIEGE CONTINUED. 

Both besiegers and besieged had suffered so severely by the 
terrible conflict of Inkermann, which took place on the 5th of 
November, that, by common consent and common necessity, 
active hostilities were in a great measure suspended. In fact, 
no important action has occurred since then up to the middle 
of December; yet the siege during this time was signalized by 
a variety of skirmishes and interesting incidents, a summary of 
which we give in order of time. 

Nov. 9.—Four days had elapsed since the battle of Inker¬ 
mann, and the Eussians had begun to recover their spirits. A 
French officer writing on that day says, “You may judge of 
the efficiency of the Eussian artillery when I tell you that, 
while I was dating the letter I am writing, I reckoned forty-twc 
shots from the town, which we did not return; for at this late 
hour, half past eight P.M. we take care not to waste our pow- 



THE GREAT STORM OF NOVEMBER 14. £9 

der like the Russians, forty-two shots in less than one minute! 
This may appear fabulous, but is nevertheless true; the Rus¬ 
sians from time to time being seized with fits of rage, which 
they give vent to by firing at random volleys of artillery. It 
is in the evening, or immediately before day, these fits come 
on. Yesterday, we heard in the city sacred music, hymns, and 
loud huzzas. There are strange doings at Sebastopol.” 

Nov. 10.—A cold rain was falling all day, but the besiegers 
continued their siege works without intermission. 

Nov . 11.—Powerful reinforcements were arriving daily to 
both armies, and the works were carried on with vigor in every 
direction. 

Nov. 12—About seven P.M., in the midst of a severe storm, 
the besieged opened a most tremendous fire of artillery, field bat¬ 
teries and musketry. Viewed from the camp, the spectacle was 
truly grand and imposing. As usual, the Russians threw away 
their ammunition. The only loss was a French captain, who 
was supposed to have fallen into an ambuscade or been taken 
prisoner. 

THE GREAT STORM OF NOVEMBER 14— THE WAR SPIRIT SUC 
CUMBING TO THE ELEMENTS—WHOLESALE SHIPWRECK 
OF THE ALLIED FLEETS. 

After a violent rain, a hurricane like those of the West- 
Indies arose about eight o’clock A.M., when all the siege 
works were suspended. Men had the greatest difficulty in 
keeping on their legs. The tents were carried away or 
destroyed. A melting snow, with compact hail-stones, covered 
the ground. It was a Russian winter-day in all its hideous¬ 
ness. The fire of the besieged and the besiegers was sus¬ 
pended. Every body mustered courage to struggle against the 
fury of the elements. The hurricane proceeded from the 
south-west, and the guard of the trenches, coming to relieve 
those on duty during the night, were near being blown into 
Sebastopol. The hurricane continued with the same intensity 
until five o’clock P.M., and only subsided during the night. 

At sea, the storm was most disastrous to the ships of the 
Allies, forty-six transports and other vessels being destroyed, 
and many more injured. The British lost eighteen, and the 
French twelve, off Balaklava, besides fifteen or sixteen which 
were dismasted. About eighteen or more English vessels 
were also lost or dismasted at Eupatoria or at the Katcha. 
Five French line-of-battle ships lost their rudders, and suffered 
other injuries; the British ships Sampson, Retribution, and 
Vesuvius also sustained considerable injury. The whole 


100 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


we re sent to Constantinople for repairs. A Turkish line-of 
battle ship went ashore and became a complete wreck at Balak- 
lava, and the flag-ship of the Turkish Admiral was dismasted. 

The loss of the Prince, a splendid British ship of two thou¬ 
sand five hundred tons, was a serious calamity to the whole 
army. She had on board forty thousand suits of clothing, 
with under-garments, socks, gloves, and a multitude of other 
articles of the kind, (said to have been a present of Prince 
Albert to the army,) vast quantities of shot and shell, and, not 
least in consequence, the medical stores sent out in conse¬ 
quence of the deficiencies which formerly existed. Every 
thing was lost, and of a crew of one hundred and eighty, only 
six were saved. She was carried from her moorings on to 
the rocks with such force, that in ten minutes there was hardly 
a piece a yard long remaining. The cargo embraced the whole 
of the winter clothing for the British army. By the loss of the 
Prince, and also of the Resolute, laden with powder and shells, 
the British army was for the time being deprived of the means 
of continuing the siege. The cargo of the Prince was valued 
at £500,000. 

Many lives were lost by the wreck of the other vessels, and 
quite a number of the poor fellows who were washed ashore, 
were made prisoners by the Russians, and a few carried into 
Sebastopol. The Sampson, Firebrand, and other steamers 
kept off the Russians by the fire of their heavy guns. Some 
Cossacks came down to the beach and got near enough to fire 
on some of the men-of-war’s boats, killing one man in the 
Queen’s launch and wounding others. One fellow rode close 
up to a stranded vessel and made a thrust of his lance at a 
man on board; however, he did not observe that the water 
deepened very suddenly at the vessel’s side ; and as he rode in 
to make his thrust, the horse tumbled over in a hole, and the 
Cossack, in the great delight of the crew, was nearly drowned, 
and got to shore half dead under a heavy fire of laughter. A 
drosky, with two gentlemen in it, drove down to the beach, 
and came alongside another transport. The gentlemen ad¬ 
dressed the crew very civilly, and through the medium of 
a Swedish boy, who understood what they said, invited them 
to come on shore. “We are,” said they, “ Christians like your¬ 
selves, and (laying their hands on that organ) we have hearts 
as well as Englishmen. Don’t be drowned. Come on shore, 
and we’ll treat you well.” “ What do they say ?” asked the 

mate. The boy interpreted. “Just tell them to go to-, 

and be off out of that, or I’ll soon make them,” was the reply. 
They simply went back to Sebastopol. The Sampson aiid 
Firebrand shelled so severely the ranks of some Cossacks, who 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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A SERIES OF SHARP ENCOUNTERS. 


101 


came down to plunder the wrecks and actually fired on the 
men-of-war’s boat as they pulled in to save the men, that they 
were driven back precipitately. The shots were so well 
directed as to strike in the midst of groups of ten or twelve, 
scattering them in every direction. 

The Russians also suffered in their harbor from the storm, 
and set fire to one of their wrecked vessels. Most of their 
large buildings were unroofed, and their bridge of boats 
broken. In the memory of men such a hurricane has not 
desolated the Crimean shores. 

From the storm up to November 18, no firing took place 
beyond an occasional shot. 

A SERIES OF SHARP ENCOUNTERS. 

Nov. 20.—A smart affair occurred on the night of the 20th 
between the British Rifle Brigade and about three hundred 
Russians, who had established themselves in some caverns and 
stone huts, in a ravine between the first and second parallels 
The Rifles advanced, and very soon forced the enemy to retreat, 
after a brisk fire, in which they killed and wounded a consid¬ 
erable number of the Russians with comparatively little loss to 
themselves. The enemy fell back on their main body; and 
when the Rifles had established themselves for the night in the 
caves which the enemy had occupied, they were assailed by a 
strong column of Russians, who fired volleys of musketry and 
rifles against their small force continuously, and were only 
kept at bay by the deadly return of the Minids. The action 
ended in the complete repulse of the Russian columns. The 
English loss was seven killed, and eighteen or nineteen 
wounded. 

On the night of the 22d, there was a brisk affair between the 
Chasseurs de Vincennes and the Russian Riflemen in front of 
the Flagstaff battery earth-work; and the Russians dispelled all 
absurd myths about their being in want of powder and ball, 
by a most tremendous cannonade. Assaults and counter¬ 
assaults continued, amid a furious fire, which lighted up the 
skies with sheets of flame from nine o’clock at night until four 
o’clock in the morning. The French actually penetrated 
behind the outer entrenchments and established themselves for 
a time within the ‘ enciente,’ but as there were no preparations 
for a general assault, they withdrew. Vollies of musketry and 
salvos of cannon roared through the camp during the whole 
night, but few lost their rest in consequence, for these affairs 
had become a nightly occurrence. 

The fight between the French and Russian Riflemen, aided 


102 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


by artillery, was renewed on tbe night of the 25th. The 
object of contention was a mud fort near the Quarantine Bat* 
tery, which the French persisted in holding, although useless. 

Nov. 29.—Storm, wind, and rain. The Russians had much 
strengthened their defenses. They had scarped the ground in 
front of all their batteries, constructed strong abattis in front 
of the lines, thrown up numerous earth-works, and made sunken 
batteries before all their redoubts, and a long scarp of slopes. 
During the night, a particularly strong sortie was made on the 
French. Hearing a noise, a French rifleman crept forward and 
saw a column of Russians, two thousand strong, forming in the 
rear of the battery. The French, therefore, seven hundred 
strong, silently mounted the parapet of their own battery, and 
received the Russians with a deadly volley, then leaping down, 
attacked them with the bayonet, and compelled them to retreat. 

Nov. 30.—A heavy fire on the French during the night. 
The Grand Duke Michael, with a very large staff, was observed 
making a reconnoisance at a distance of one thousand yards. 
The Grand Duke was recognizable by the profound respect 
paid to him by all; wherever he went, hats were taken off and 
heads uncovered. He was also detected by the presence of a 
white dog which always accompanies him. He is a fine, stout 
young fellow enough, but did not look in particularly good 
humor at what he saw through his telescope. 


THE ORDER OF THE ENTERTAINMENT, 

in the latter part of November, is thus described: “ During 
the day the Russians fire on the British about one gun every 
five minutes; the English look-out man cries, ‘Tower/ 
‘ Redan,’ or ‘ Garden Battery/ and the shot is returned; but 
the fire on the French is much more lively, and is kept up 
with some effect on their earth-work and parallel. 

Every night, about nine o’clock, the Flagstaff, Quarantine, 
and Wall Batteries open a furious cannonade, which lasts from 
twenty to forty-five minutes, as hard as the men can load, right 
into th.6 French lines, and then follows instantly a sally, the 
result of which is invariably the same. The Russians push a 
strong column out of the place, rush toward the first line, 
drive in the pickets and riflemen, get up to the first parallel, 
sometimes into it, occasionally beyond it and close to the se¬ 
cond parallel, when they are received as they advance, by the 
French covering parties, with a deadly fire ; they halt and fire 
in return; are charged by the French, who rout and pursue 
them into the town, but who are obliged to retire by the flank 
fire of the batteries an I street guns. In this way the French 


THE MISERIES OF LIFE IN CAMP. 10$ 

lose forty or fifty men, but tbe loss of the Russians in these 
sorties must be considerable. Frequently about daybreak the 
Russians repeat the performance. 

THE MISERIES OF LIFE IN CAMP. 

Under date of Sebastopol, November 25, the correspondent 
of the London Times furnishes a sad picture of the miseries 
to which the soldiers are exposed in camp: “The siege has 
been for many days practically suspended, our batteries are 
used up and silent, and our army are much exhausted by the 
effect of excessive labor and watching, and by the wet and 
storm to which they have been so incessantly exposed. It is 
now pouring rain, the skies are black as ink, the wind is 
howling over the ragged tents, in which the water is sometimes 
a foot deep; the treL ches are turned into dykes; the men 
have not either warm or water-proof clothing, and are out for 
twelve hours at a time in the trenches; they are plunged into 
the inevitable miseries of a winter campaign—and not a soul 
seems to care for their comfort, or even their lives. These are 
hard truths, but the people of England must hear them. They 
must know that the wretched beggar who wanders about the 
streets of London in the rain, leads the life of a prince compared 
with the British soldiers who are fighting out here for their 
country, and who, we are complacently assured by the 
home authorities, are the best-appointed army in Europe. 
They are well fed, indeed, but they have no shelter, no rest, 
and no defense against the weather. The tents, so long ex¬ 
posed to the blaze of a Bulgarian sun, and now continually 
drenched by torrents of rain, let the wet through like sieves 
and are perfectly useless as protections against the weather." 

Under these circumstances a great deal of sickness, fever, 
dysentery, and diarrhea prevailed, and as many as three hundred 
and fifty a day were sometimes on the sick-list. The cholera, 
too, which had followed up the army more or less from the 
time of leaving Varna, broke out with great virulence on the 
night of November 28, and was carrying off the poor fellows 
at the rate of sixty per day. On a single night, eighty-five 
fell victims to the disease. 

Efforts were making, however, to render the soldiers more 
comfortable by the erection of sheds and huts, large quantities 
of planks having been landed for the purpose. A large num¬ 
ber of small wooden houses were also shipped from England, 
some time in December, to be set up in the Crimea to shelter the 
troops. Fresh supplies of clothing have also been sent. The 
provisions for the comfort of the French army seem to have 


104 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


been made on a much better scale than those for the English, 
and the soldiers have suffered less. 

The Turks are in a most wretched condition. A letter 
dated Balaklava, December 3, says : The Turkish garrison at 
this place are dying off at the rate of some one hundred and 
fifty a day. It is not at all uncommon to see the corpses of 
these unfortunate beings, who have been stricken down by 
cholera on their way to hospital, lying along the road-side. 
Besides this dreadful disease, typhus fever and dysentery are 
making terrible havoc among their ranks. In spite of all our 
efforts, the dying Turks have made of every lane and street a 
cloaca, and the forms of human suffering which meet the eye at 
every turn, and once were wont to shock us, have now made 
callous, and have ceased even to attract passing attention. 
Raise up the piece of matting or coarse rug which hangs across 
the doorway of some miserable house, f om within which you 
hear wailings and cries of pain, and prayers to the Prophet, 
and you will see in one spot and in one instant a mass of ac¬ 
cumulated woes that will serve you with nightmares for a life¬ 
time. The dead, laid out as they died, are lying side by 
side with the living, and the latter present a spectacle beyond 
all imagination. The commonest necessaries of a hospital are 
wanting; there is not the least attention paid to decency or 
cleanliness—the stench is appalling—the fetid air can barely 
struggle out to taint the atmosphere, save through the chinks 
in the walls and roofs; and, for all I can observe, these men 
die without the least effort being made to save them. There 
they lie just as they were let gently down on the ground by 
the poor fellows, their comrades, who brought them on their 
backs from the camp with the greatest tenderness, but who are 
not allowed to remain with them. The sick appear to be 
tended by the sick, and the dying by the dying. 

Dec. 1.—The state of the roads having prevented the arrival 
of supplies, a part of the British forces had been put tem¬ 
porarily on a snort allowance. 

Dec. 2.—Continued rain. The besiegers began to erect huts 
for shelter. Deserters say that the condition of the Russians 
in the field is worse than that of the Allies. Much bell-ringing 
and rejoicing heard in Sebastopol during the night, supposed 
to be caused by the arrival of provisions. 

Dec. 5.—The Russians made a sortie against the French lines, 
when eight divisions of French, under G-eneral Forri, repulsed 
them with much loss. 

Dec. 7.—The besiegers’ batteries were reestablished, and the 
Allies sufficiently entrenched and provisioned to remain 
throughout the winter. 










































INCIDENTS OF THE SIEGE, ETC. 


105 


Dec. 13.—A Russian dispatch states that up to this date 
nothing of importance had occurred before Sebastopol. Some 
small sorties had been successful; in one of them the Russians 
captured some small mortars and spiked others of a larger 
size. The fires of the Allies continued feeble. 

INCIDENTS OF THE SIEGE, ETC. 

A naval officer writes :“We received the news a short while 
since from the reports of a French officer, who was taken 
prisoner, but managed to escape, that, in addition to our kill¬ 
ing the Russians, they are killing themselves. He says, 4 When 
I came to the market-place, (or what used to be the market 
place,) I saw a pair of gallows erected, and three hundred 
Poles and Russians led out to be hung. This they do if any 
refuse to work the guns, or if they utter a word in objection. 
The others the officers keep to their guns with the point of the 
bayonet.’ A few days ago, a Russian officer of the rank of 
captain deserted, and he said that the Poles would come on our 
side against the Russians as soon as we stormed the place. I 

suppose you heard that a blue-jacket, of the-, two Royal 

Artillerymen, and one Royal Marine Artilleryman, deserted 
and joined the Russians. The captain, on hearing this, had 
the magazine shifted immediately; and it was lucky he did, 
for on the next day the shot and shell came pitching on the 
place where the magazine had been like so many hailstones. I 
am happy to say that the fellow was a Yankee. By this time 
he has got his deserts, I think; for two days ago he ventured 
out at the head of a party of Russians, as leader, and when 
these were driven back he was taken by us. When captured, 
he was in Russian uniform, cross-belted and all.” 

A private in the 4th Dragoon Guards writes: 44 There were 
the Greys and First Royals up at this time, and we charged 
them—they had nothing else for it, so they charged at the 
same time. O God! I can not describe it; they were so 
superior in numbers that they ‘outflanked’ us, and we were 
in the middle of them. I never certainly felt less fear in my 
life than I did at that time, and I hope that God will forgive 
me, for I felt more like a devil than a man. We fought our 
way out of them as only Englishmen can fight; and the 4th, 
5th, and 6th were there up with us. I escaped without a 
scratch, thank God, though I was covered with blood; my 
horse was not even wounded; but oh ! the work of slaughter 
that then began—’twas truly awful, but I suppose it was 
necessary. We cut them down like sheep, and they did not 
seem to have power to resist. The plain is covered and 


106 


RUSSIAN WAR. 


covered with dead Russians, and of course we left some of our 
poor comrades on the field.” 

A medical officer in the Crimea writes: “Many of our senses 
are considerably altered by our campaigning. Smell, from colds, 
is quite gone, a great blessing in this country ; taste, from want 
of practice, considerably blunted; sight, from sleeping with 
one eye open, and looking out for number one and shells, very 
acute. Although many have escaped from the fire of the 
enemy, we have all bled in our country’s cause, as we are 
devoured by insects of the most vulgar description, which in 
former days we associated with paupers and other tribes be¬ 
longing to the unwashed ; but in this respect the British officer 
has descended from his high estate, and when we remember 
him in all the pride of gold and red cloth, it would be difficult 
to recognize him in the faded and tattered object seated by the 
bivouac fire, smoking his pipe contentedly, and dreaming of 
home and happier days. 

“ One of the most wonderful things I think is to see the way 
in which our riflemen go about in small detached parties, 
crawling along on the ground up the side of a hill, till they 
appear to be within three hundred yards of the enemy, and 
thus they lie on their bellies till a chance offers, when crack 
goes a Minie, and down falls a Russian. I was informed most 
creditably, that one of these brave fellows a few days since, 
thought he would go and do a little business on his own ac¬ 
count, got away from his company, and crawled up close to a 
battery under shelter of a hill, lay on his back and loaded, and 
turned over and fired; when after killing eleven men, a party 
rushed out, and he took to his heels, but sad to say, a volley, 
fired after him by this party, levelled him with the earth, and 
he was subsequently picked up with thirty-two balls in his 
body.” 

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. 

General Liprandi is deprived of his command for a fault 
committed at Inkermann, on the 5th of November. 

Since the siege began, twenty British soldiers have deserted 
to the Russians. Some of them had been flogged in their own 
camp, and probably for that reason concluded to try Russian 
fare. If the accounts we receive of the treatment of Russian 
soldiers be correct, they will, most likely, repent the step they 
have taken. 

The carriage of Menchikoff, taken at the battle of the Alma, 
was afterwards exhibited as a curiosity at Constantinople, and 
is said to be the identical vehicle in which he drove through 


GENERAL PROSPECTS OF THE SIEGE. 


107 


that city during his insolent embassy of last year. This is 
what Emerson might call a species of “ compensation.” 

Lord Raglan and General Canrobert, on demanding a formal 
surrender of Sebastopol, required the women, children, and 
sick to be sent away, and flags to be hoisted upon the hospitals. 

The Chasseurs de Yincennes, French riflemen, will be long 
remembered by the Russians. They signalized themselves during 
the siege, by their skill in sharp-shooting, by picking off 
every Russian artilleryman who ventured to show himself at 
the embrasures. 

The noble devotion of Miss Florence Nightingale, and her 
oand of English sisters, who some time in November started on 
their mission of mercy, to nurse the sick and wounded soldiers 
in the hospitals near Constantinople, ought to be held in grate¬ 
ful remembrance by all whose sympathies are excited by 
human suffering, and who can appreciate the self-sacrificing 
goodness which encounters every risk and welcomes every labor 
or trial that may relieve it. 

When the armies were drawn up at Alma, the French officer 
who was in attendance on Lord Raglan, for the purpose of 
communicating with the Marshal, made some observation upon 
the appearance of the French wing, to the right of the Eng¬ 
lish. “ Yes,” said Lord Raglan, glancing at his empty sleeve, 
“ France owed me an arm, and she has paid me.” 

GENERAL PROSPECTS OF THE SIEGE. 

The Russian defenses on the south are estimated at one hun 
dred guns stronger than when the siege began, while, on the 
other hand, the British have erected a very powerful new bat¬ 
tery, not yet opened, on an eminence north of the valley of In- 
kermann, and commanding every house in Sebastopol, besides 
being another step toward the complete investiture of the place. 
By this time the Allies must have received from 15,000 to 20,000 
additional troops, besides an abundance of supplies. It is 
affirmed, but is probably an exaggeration, that the French 
army will be augmented to twelve divisions, or 120,000 men, 
which, with the English and Turkish reinforcements, will 
make the strength of the Allies 200,000 men, an army which, 
it is considered, will equal any that Russia can bring into the 
field. The contingent of Omer Pacha’s force, to be sent to the 
Crimea, is now called 45,000. He was to embark in a few 
days. 

^Russian deserters say that provisions and ammunition were be 
coming scarce in Sebastopol, but there was no famine fo? 
either. 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


■' 4 - 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 

Jan. 14th.—The Russians made a most darmg sally out, 
after a few rounds of artillery, and charged with full bayonets, 
so that the two parties fought hand to hand. Many of the 
Russians fell, and several of the French were killed. This is 
about the first instance that the Russians have been known to 
stand to the bayonet. 

Jan. 20th.—The Russians commenced a sharp fire from the 
tower called Malakoff on the English batteries, but without 
doing material injury, although kept up for two days. 

Jan. 22d.—The Russians made a sortie on the English bat¬ 
teries, and were repulsed after a brisk fire of two days. 

Jan. 25th.—The French opened a brisk fire on Sebastopol 
from six batteries stationed near the Bay of Chersonese. The 
firing continued to the 28th, every shot during the three days, 
committing frightful havoc. The barracks of the Russians, 
on which the fire was especially directed, had to be evacuated, 

Jan. 28th.—Sunday was celebrated by an extremely heavy 
fire of musketry between the Russians and the French cover 
ing-parties and sharp-shooters. 

Jan. 31st.—Another sortie by the Russians, who were re¬ 
pulsed without material loss by the Allies. 

Feb. 1st and 2d.— A demonstration was made by the Rus¬ 
sians, but they were driven back with great loss, by the French 
volunteers. 

Feb. 13th.—The Russians made a sortie during the night, 
but it was not formidable; only five of the French were 
killed. 

Feb. 14th.—Another night-sortie by the Russians, in which 
the French lost thirty-five men. 

Feb. 17th.—The town of Eupatoria was attacked on the 
eastern side, by eighty pieces of artillery, six regiments of 
cavalry, under the command of General Korff, and twelve 
regiments of infantry, consisting of about 25,000 men, under 
the orders of General Osten Sacken. The combat lasted from 
5£ o’clock until 10 o’clock in the morning. The Russians 
were vigorously repulsed. Their loss is estimated at 500 
killed, and the wounded in proportion. The Turks had 88 
killed, 250 wounded, and lost 70 horses. Selim Pasha, Gene¬ 
ral of the Egyptian division, and Col. Rustem Bey, were 
killed. Eighteen French were killed or wounded on ship¬ 
board. The attack has not been renewed by the Russians. 


DEATH OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 109 

The steamers at anchor in the roadstead contributed energeti¬ 
cally to the defense of the town. 

Since the affair of the 17th February, the Russians have not 
made any new attempt upon Eupatoria, although many villages 
are still in flames near the scene of action. More guns have 
been landed, and additional forces thrown in. The town is in 
a good state of defense. The battle consisted mainly of a 
heavy fire of artillery, under cover of which the Russians 
made two or three attempts to carry the town. They bivou¬ 
acked on the field without tents or fires, the night after the 
battle, notwithstanding the weather was intensely cold; the 
next day they commenced retiring on Simpheropol. 

The Russians, in their attack on Eupatoria, suffered a very 
material loss, which acted as a peremptory check upon their 
further movements. The French official account of the battle 
states that the Russians lost 500 killed and 2000 wounded— 
their artillery lost 300 horses; while others, who walked over 
the field, estimate the loss of the Russians at 300 killed and 
700 wounded; and of the Turks, 80 killed and 200 wounded. 

Feb. 19th.—The French mining party succeeded in nearly 
destroying the Flag-Staff Battery of Sebastopol. General 
Campbell and General Bosquet made a reconnoissance in force, 
but a thick fall of snow coming on, it resulted in no engage¬ 
ment. 

Feb. 22d and 23d.—The Russians succeeded in erecting a 
redoubt on the left flank of the fortifications of Sebastopol. 

Feb. 23d and 24th.—The French attacked the redoubt and 
works around the Malakhoff tower, and succeeded in destroy¬ 
ing them after some sharp fighting. The French loss is esti¬ 
mated at 100 wounded. No account of the Russian loss has 
reached us, but it must have been considerable from the des¬ 
perate character of the encounter. The affair was serious, and 
gave evidence of the superiority of the French troops over the 
Russian. 


DEATH OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 

March 2d.—The Emperor Nicholas expired to-day at one 
o’clock. The Emperor had been ill for several days, and com¬ 
plained of oppression of the head and chest. His physicians 
gave no hopes of his recovery from the first moment of his 
seizure. An announcement of his speedy dissolution found 
him calm and fortified for the event; asking his attendant, 
when “he should become paralyzed?” Not receiving a de¬ 
finite answer, he asked Dr. Carrell, “ When shall I suffocate ?” 
He took the last sacrament, and bid farewell to his wife and 


110 


RU&SIAN WAR. 


family, and blessed them, and the last words he spoke were 
addressed to the Empress, and were: “ Tell Frederick (the 
King of Prussia) to continue attached to Russia, as he has 
hitherto been, and never to forget his father’s words.” He was 
in his fifty-ninth year at the date of his death, and had reigned 
Czar of ftussia and Finland twenty-nine years, three months, 
and one day. 

On the news reaching Berlin, the Court placed itself in 
mourning, and orders were issued that the whole Prussian 
army shall wear the symbols of mourning four weeks. The 
general feeling in the Prussian capital seemed to be one of 
regret. At Vienna, the intelligence caused much agitation. 
An order of the day, by the Emperor of Austria, directs that, 
“ in acknowledgment of the services rendered with noble 
eagerness by the Emperor Nicholas, during a time of unfor¬ 
tunate trials,” the Nicholas regiment of Cuirassiers shall al¬ 
ways preserve that name as a souvenir for the Austrian army. 

The Emperor Nicholas is succeeded by his eldest son, 
Alexander, who has issued a manifesto, in which he promises 
to adhere to the policy of his father. We give the concluding 
portion: “As the deceased devoted himself incessantly to the 
welfare of his subjects, so do we, also, on ascending the thrones 
of Russia, and of Poland and Finland, inseparable from each 
other, take a solemn oath before God to regard the welfare of 
our empire as our only object. May Providence, which has 
selected us for so high a calling, be our guide and protector, 
that we may maintain Russia on the highest standard of power 
and glory, and in our person accomplish the incessant wishes 
and views of Peter, of Catharine, of Alexander, and of our 
father! May the zeal of our subjects assist us therein ! We 
invoke and command the oath of allegiance to us and to the 
heir to our throne, our son Alexandrovitch!” 

The Grand Duke Constantine has been reconciled with his 
brother Alexander, and has taken the oath of fidelity to his 
person and heir. The greatest enthusiasm was manifested 
during the ceremony. The officers of the house, and the au¬ 
thorities of St. Petersburg and elsewhere, had likewise taken 
the oaths to the Emperor and the Crown Prince, and the whole 
garrison was to do so on the 3d. 

March 4th.—Sardinia declared war against Russia, and re¬ 
voked the exequators of all Russian diplomatic agents or con¬ 
suls in the Sardinian States. Prince MenchikofF is recalled 
from the Crimea, and Prince GortchakofF invested with the 
chief command, General Osten-Sacken to be the second in com¬ 
mand. General Rudiger was summoned from the command 
of the army of Poland to take the direction of the Ministry 
of War, in the place of Prince Dolgorouki. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


Ill 


March 5th. —To-day Skender Beg left Eupatoria, with 300 
irregular cavalry and 100 Tartar bashi-bazouks, to make a 
reconnoissance, and he was met by four strong squadrons of 
Bussian regular cavalry. Notwithstanding the disproportion 
of numbers, an obstinate struggle ensued. Skender Beg was 
compelled to retreat, retiring slowly, and fighting inch by inch 
of ground. In this affair, the Bussians lost about thirty men. 
The Tartars had made five prisoners, but they afterwards es¬ 
caped. Skender Beg had only eleven men killed and two 
wounded. He himself received a very severe wound. 

March 8th. —Commander Armytage, of the British steam- 
vessel “ Viper,” destroyed the Martello Tower, at Djemiteia, 
and dispersed its garrison. He burnt the fort and barracks, 
spiked the guns, and destroyed the ammunition, successfully 
putting to flight the Cossacks, without any casualty on board 
the “Viper.” 

March 14th. —General Osten Sacken announces that, not 
withstanding the fire of the Allied artillery, he has succeeded in 
erecting a new redoubt in front of the Kormiloff bastion. 

March 16th. —The French troops carried a line of ambus¬ 
cades occupied by the Bussian sharp-shooters. At the same time, 
the Bussians made a sortie on the extreme left of the English 
line, which was repulsed. The Bussians had fifty men put 
hors du combat , and withdrew in disorder. 

March 17th. —Another severe struggle for the possession of 
the rifle pits before the Malakoff Tower, between the Bussian 
and French troops. The latter, after gallantly contesting every 
inch of ground, were compelled to abandon the pits to the 
Bussians, who immediately occupied them, under protection of 
the heavy guns of the Malakoff Tower. The Bussians indulged 
in a severe rifle practice, and considerably annoyed the Zouaves. 
Loss of the French is reported as 2 officers and 29 men dead, 
and 3 officers and 133 men wounded. 

March 18th. —The Bussians, in pushing ahead some ad¬ 
vanced works, were to-day vigorously attacked by the French, 
and driven from their position with the loss of a large num¬ 
ber. 

March 20th. —Prince Gortchakoff arrived, and took com¬ 
mand of the army at Sebastopol. 

March 22d and 23d. —The Bussians made a series of sorties 
on the French line, and fought with desperate bravery, but 
were eventually repulsed with great slaughter. The English 
camp was under arms, expecting a general attack on their line ; 
but it was not attempted. The English soldiers do not relish 
these night-attacks, but the circumstances attending these 
sorties evince the greatest coolness and bravery on the part 
of all engaged. The following extract, from a letter written 


112 


PROGRESS OP THE WAR. 


by the surgeon of an English regiment, will give the reader 
an idea of the result of one of these nocturnal sorties: 

u I was up till half-past three o’clock this morning with -wounded Prenclimen 
The Zouaves will soon be exterminated at the rate they are losing men. Thes« 
night-attacks are horrid affairs; there are always mistakes: last night, the Prench 
on the left of their advanced works mistook Russians for English, and the English 
on the extreme right thought the Russians were Prench. Some fellows of the 
Ninety-seventh, wlio brought in poor Captain Yicars, (since dead,) would insist in 
telling me that the French had fired into our troops; the Russian dead in our 
trench was of course the strongest reply. A number of Greeks and Armenians 
fought with the Russians last night The French killed a Greek officer whom 
they declare to be seven feet high—a giant. There is now lying dead in our 
trench an officer, supposed at first to be a Russian; but his papers show him to 
be a Greek. He had tliirty-five gold pieces on his person. The dead on the 
Mamelon Hill are nearly as thick for about the fourth of an acre as they were at 
Inkermann. We have sorties and skirmishes every night, and I am kept con¬ 
stantly on the qui vive, being so near to the Mamelon attack.” 

The loss of the Russians is estimated at 700 killed and 1500 
wounded. General Canrobert admits the loss of the French 
to have been 200 killed and 500 wounded. The English and 
Turkish troops took no active part in these sorties, it being 
deemed a point of honor by General Bosquet for his division 
of Zouaves to drive the Russians from the rifle pits, and to 
repel the attack on their part of the French line. 

March 23d. —An agreement was entered into for a suspen¬ 
sion of hostilities for three hours, in order to bury the dead, dur¬ 
ing which time French, English, and Russian officers were walk¬ 
ing about, saluting each other courteously as they passed, and 
occasionally entering into conversation; and a constant inter¬ 
change of little civilities, such as offering and receiving segar- 
lights, was going on in each little group. Some of the Russian 
officers were evidently men of high rank and breeding. Their 
polished manners contrasted remarkably with their plain and 
rather coarse clothing. They wore, with few exceptions, the 
invariable long gray coat over their uniforms. The French 
officers were all en grande tenue, and offered a striking contrast 
to many of the English officers, who were dressed d la Bala- 
klava, and wore uncouth head-dresses, cat-skin coats, and non¬ 
descript paletots. During the burial of the dead, a certain 
amount of lively conversation sprung up, in which the Russian 
officers indulged in a little badinage. Some of them asked 
the Allied officers, “ When they were coming in to take the 
place ?” Others, “ When the Allies thought of going away ?” 
Some congratulated the Allies upon the excellent opportunity 
they had of getting a good look at Sebastopol, as the chance 
of getting a nearer view, except on similar occasions, was not, 
in their opinion, very probable. At one time, a Russian with 
a litter stopped by a dead body, and put it into the litter. He 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


IIS 


looked round for a comrade to help him. A Zouave at once 
advanced with much grace, and lifted it. General Bosquet, 
and several officers of rank of the Allied army, visited the 
trenches during the armistice, and staff-officers were present, 
to see that the men did not go out of bounds. The armistice 
was over about three o’clock. Scarcely had the flag disap¬ 
peared behind the parapet of the Mamelon before a round shot 
from the English battery went slap through one of the embra¬ 
sures of the Russian work, and dashed up a great pillar of 
earth inside. The Russians at once replied, and the noise of 
cannon soon reechoed through the ravines. 

April 6th. —Russians made a sortie on the English line. 
They were met and repulsed in gallant style, without material 
loss on either side. 

April 9th. —The Allies commenced bombarding Sebastopol. 
The cannonade lasted twelve hours, without making any visi¬ 
ble impression, notwithstanding that five hundred heavy guns 
were actively served. It is reported that the beseiged lost 833 
men during the bombardment of to-day. 

April 10th. —The cannonading of yesterday was resumed, 
but without any beneficial result to the Allies. 

April 11th. —Continuation of the bombardment. A breach 
made in the bastion between the Russian works and the Quar¬ 
antine Fort. It is reported that three Russian batteries have 
been dismounted. 

April 12th. —Bombardment continued by the Allies. Omar 
Pasha landed at Kamiesch with 15,000 men, and will assist 
at the assault upon Sebastopol. 

April 13th.— The Allies continue the cannonading without 
gaining material advantage. They declare their loss to be im 
material, while that of the Russians amounts to thousands of 
killed and wounded. 

April 14th.—The Russians made a sortie from the Flagstaff 
battery on the left of the French. They fought desperately, 
and at first drove the French from their position. A sanguin¬ 
ary fight took place, in which the bayonet and the musket- 
stock were used in a pell-mell struggle ; but soon the French 
asserted their supremacy, and, in spite of the fierce charge of 
the Russians, succeeded in driving them back. The loss of the 
French was considerable; namely, six officers killed, nine offi¬ 
cers wounded, and three hundred men put hors du combat . 

April 15th.—Lieutenant Mitchell, R.A., and Lieutenant 
Preston, 88th Regiment, were killed while on duty in the 
trenches. The fire of the Russians is not so heavy to-day. 
Every night, one English and one French man-of-war runs in 
close to the south side of Sebastopol, and discharges a broad¬ 
side, doing considerable damage. The Redan Battery, Garden 
Batteries, Round Battery, and Barrack Battery were worked 


114 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


with activity throughout the day. The fire of the Allies on 
the Mamelon tower is so heavy and constant that the Russians 
can not get up guns to it. Gen. Bigot died last night from the 
effects of his wound. 

April 16th.—The cannonade on both sides was very heavy 
throughout the day. 

April 17th.—The cannonading still kept up on both sides 
without any definite results. About five hundred Russian 
cavalry, escorting a large staff, made a reconnoissanee of the 
Allied position in the valley of Balaklava. 

April 21st.—The firing from the Allied army is somewhat 
slackened, and the bombardment is nearly suspended. A fire 
occurred in Sebastopol, caused, doubtless, by the explosion of 
shells from the naval forces. It was extinguished without do¬ 
ing much damage. The French did their best to keep it alive 
by constant discharges of shell from their Picket-house Battery. 
The firing was very heavy—almost as vigorous, indeed, as that 
on the second evening of the bombardment, when twenty-three 
shells were counted twinkling up among the stars as they 
swept down from the French batteries upon the Russian works. 

April 27th.—The 77th Regiment made a successful attack 
on the rifle-pits in front of the Redan tower, and after a severe 
hand-to-hand struggle, succeeded in driving the Russians from 
it. Loss considerable on both sides. 

May 1st.—The Russians made a sortie from the Flagstaff Bat¬ 
tery, and exploded five mines, entirely destroying the works of 
the Allied army. The Allies opened a heavy fire against the 
Schwartz redoubt, but were compelled to retrace their steps by 
a heavy fire of grape. The encounter was of a sanguinary 
character, and the loss very severe. The Russians admit the 
loss of 300 killed and 540 wounded. 

May 5th.—Some well-directed shells from Sebastopol blew 
up,two powder-magazines in the French eight-gun battery. 

May 6th.—The fire of a battery near the Flagstaff bastion 
caused the explosion of a magazine in the Allied camp. 

May 7th to 12th.—Nothing of a decisive character has been 
effected by either of the contending armies. Skirmishes and 
night-sorties continue with more or less loss. The bombard¬ 
ment of the city is not conducted with the vigor of former 
days. 

May 14th.—A private letter from the Crimea furnishes the 
following account of a mistake which occurred. It says: 
« We have had terrible work here. Last night, the 18th Regi¬ 
ment fired on the 68th by mistake. The Russians made an 
attack on the advanced batteries, and were repelled by the 
68th and Rifles. The Russians returned in a short time with 
reinforcements, agom attacked the batteries, and a fearful 


PROGRESS OF 1HE WAR. 


115 


struggle then took place. The reserves were then sent up — 
the 9th, 18th, and 44th — and* when the}' got into the advanced 
trench, both sides were so covered with mud that we could not 
tell Russian from English; so the reserve opened fire, but it 
was unfortunately on the poor 68th. They then charged on 
them, when they found out their mistake, but not till a good 
many of the 68th had fallen. However, the Russians had it 
hot and warm afterwards. The poor fellows who are wounded 
in advance of the trench are obliged to lie there all day till 
dark, as the Russians fire on any of the Allies who go to bring 
them in. Many of the wounded might recover, if brought in, 
but they lie and bleed to death.” 

May 19th.—General Pelissier assumed the supreme command 
of the French army; Gen. Canrobert retiring from the chief 
command to that of the command of the first division of the 
French Crimean army. 

May 22d and 23d—The following dispatch of Gen. Pelissier to 
the French Minister of War fully explains the celebrated night 
attack. 

“ Head-Quarters before Sebastopol, May 26. 

“ Monsieur le Merechal : Since the storming of the Russian 
counter-approaches in front of the Central Bastion, on the night 
of the 2d of May, and the occupation of that important 
work by our troops, the enemy to impede our progress, and 
take our attacks in flank, turned their attention to the Quaran¬ 
tine side, and erected there new lines of counter-approach. 
They formed the plan by connecting by a gabionade the am¬ 
buscades at the extremity of the bay, those of the cemetery, and 
to connect the work by a continuous covered way with the 
right lunette of the Central Bastion. In the night between the 
2fst and 22d, by an enormous effort of labor, skillfully con¬ 
cealed, they commenced laying out that vast place d? armees , so 
threatening for our left attack, and so convenient for enabling 
the enemy to assemble large bodies of men an</ make consider¬ 
able sorties. 

“ The danger of this Russian work was evident. I saw at 
once its extent, and ordered General De Salles, commander of 
the First Corps, to carry that position, and turn the enemy’s 
new works against themselves. 

“ The General of Division, Patd, was charged with the opera¬ 
tion. Two attacks were organized—one on the ambuscades at 
the bottom of the bay ; the other on the ambuscades of the ce¬ 
metery by the south-east angle of that inclosure : they were to 
be simultaneous. 

“ After having carried the new gabionades of the enemy, the 
object was to maintain ourselves fin advance, with sufficient 
solidity to protect the work, and to transform the Russian work 


116 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


to our own use. The combat took:place on the night betweea 
the 22d and 23d of May; it commenced at nine o’clock in the 
evening. 

“ Our left attack consisted of three companies of the 10th 
battalion of Chasseurs-a-pied, three battalions of the 2d Regi¬ 
ment of the Foreign Legion, and one battalion of the 98th of 
the Line. 

“ The right attack consisted of picked companies of the 1st 
Regiment of the Foreign Legion, supported by two battalions 
of the 28th Line, with a battalion of the 18th and two battalions 
of Voltigeurs of the Garde, as reserve. 

“The enemy were there in great force to receive us. We 
estimated at more than twenty battalions the force of the ene¬ 
my our brave soldiers had to attack and defeat. According to 
prisoners there were twenty-six battalions. 

“ The action commenced on a signal given by General Pate, 
with inexpressible impetuosity. In a few minutes all the am¬ 
buscades on our right were in our hands. The veterans of the 
Foreign Legion had carried every thing before them, and, sup¬ 
ported by the 28th of the Line, they established themselves in 
front of the Russian works, covering our workmen. But for¬ 
midable masses of Russians soon issued from the Quarantine 
ravine, joined in the combat, and disputed the ground with an 
extraordinary obstinacy. Five times the most distant ambus¬ 
cades were taken and re-taken by the Russians and our troops. 
These bayonet mttees were terrible. 

“As the dawn broke, the Russians had ceased fighting, and 
our battalions returned to the trenches, leaving the ground 
covered with the enemy’s slain. 

“ On the left attack the ambuscades were carried with the 
same impetuosity. There, also, the Russians returned to the 
charge with extraordinary tenacity. Numerous assaults were 
made at the • point of the bayonet; but after two hours, the 
enemy, discouraged, beat a retreat, and our engineers installed 
themselves solidly in the Russian gabionade, which became 
definitively our conquest. 

“ On the following night I ordered a second attack, expecting 
full success from this new effort of our brave infantry. 

“ Four of these battalions were charged to cover our conquest 
on the extreme left. The six others were to re-take on the right 
the gabionade running parallel with the great wall of the ceme¬ 
tery, to beat the enemy, and allow our engineers to make the 
works definitively our own. 

“ The action commenced at the same hour as on the previous 
evening. The ambuscades were turned and carried ; the ene¬ 
my, driven back on all sides, retreated, keeping up a skirmish¬ 
ing fire, which gradually ceased. The engineers immediately 


PROGRESS OF THE WAK. 


117 


Bet to work, despite a fire of grape and every sort of missile 
from the place. 

“ Our success has therefore been complete. The considerable 
work upon which the enemy had counted to arrest our attacks 
is in our hands; their gabions cover us; their own ambuscades 
are turned against themselves. Those which we could not 
combine in our system have been destroyed. 

“ Yesterday, upon the reiterated demand of General Os ten- 
Sacken, a flag of truce was hoisted, and an armistice concluded 
for carrying off the dead. We handed over more than 1200 
corpses to the enemy. 

“According to the number of dead given up to the enemy, 
and the results ascertained from recent affairs, we are assured 
that the losses of the Russians are at least four times our own; 
they give to these engagements the proportions of a battle. 
These calculations are, however, under those made by prisoners 
and deserters. 

“ Our artillery gave proof of extraordinary vigor and skill. 
It constantly swept with its fire the ravine where the enemy 
assembled their reserves. 

“ The Commander-in-Chief, Pelissier.” 

May 24th.—Last night the French attempted to drive the 
Russians from a position that annoyed them considerably. The 
French fire was returned by the Flag-staff, the Garden, and 
the battery in the middle of Sebastopol. It was an extraordi 
nary sight. A thick white cloud of smoke hung over the French 
batteries and that part of the town which was answering their 
fire. Bright flashes of fire gleamed through this smoke every 
second, as guns were fired or shells exploded. There was no 
cessation in the firing for an hour, when there was a slight lull, 
and immediately volleys of musketry were heard, which con¬ 
tinued without intermission for some time. About 10.15 there 
was an explosion in the Russian batteries. It seemed as if 
there had been a train of powder loose on the ground, as there 
was suddenly a long bright sheet of flame seen lighting up the 
wall of smoke. About 10.30 there was another similar explo¬ 
sion. The number of shells that were fired from both sides 
was enormous. There were generally five or six in the air at 
one time. The French fired a great many “ bouquets” — not 
the bouquets that are popular among young ladies, but a flight 
of shells, which separate in the air and fly about in all direc¬ 
tions. The expedition sailed this morning—it is supposed to 
Kertch ; the English part of it under Sir George Brown, as on 
the first occasion. He has four regiments of Highlanders this 
time. 

May 25th.—An Allied exoedition of 15,000 men of all 


118 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


arms, and five batteries of artillery, transported by a fleet o f 
French and English vessels, have made themselves masters oi 
the Sea of Azoff. 

The fleets steamed rapidly up to Kamiesch, where the army 
landed under cover of the guns of the steam-frigates, and im¬ 
mediately ascended the heights without opposition, while the 
steamers of light draught of water pushed on towards Kertch 
and Yanikale ; and the Russians, apparently taken by surprise 
at the rapidity of these movements, and at the imposing ap¬ 
pearance of the expedition, blew up their fortifications on both 
sides of the Straits, mounting not less than 50 guns, (new, and 
of heavy calibre,) which have fallen into possession of the 
Allies, and retired after having destroyed three steamers and 
several other heavily-armed vessels, as well as large quantities 
of provisions, ammunition, and stores, thus leaving tjie Allies 
masters of the entrance into the Sea of Azoff, without having 
sustained any loss whatever. The Russians lost 160,000 sacks 
of oats, 360,000 sacks of corn, and 100,000 sacks of flour. A 
carriage-factory and a foundry were burnt down ; three steam¬ 
ers, one of which was a war-steamer, were sunk by the Rus¬ 
sians themselves. Some thirty transport-ships were destroyed, 
and at least as many taken. In the different explosions, about 
100,000 kilogrammes of powder were destroyed. A great 
store of shells and cannon balls no longer exists. 

May 26th.—The French batteries continue to bombard the 
city, and the Russians return the compliment with their shell, 
but without effecting much injury to the French battery. A 
correspondent of the Austrian Military Zeitung thus describes 
Sebastopol: 

“ The southern side of our town is scarcely to be recognized ; 
500 houses have been totally destroyed. Tlie beautiful tneatre 
no longer exists. The streets are every wher ■ rooted up by shot, 
and the pavement is totally destroyed, while at every corner 
stand whole pyramids of the enemy’s cannon-balls, and ex¬ 
ploded shells, which were daily collected before the opening of 
the fire. In many streets five or six such pyramids are to be 
seen, each of them from eight to ten feet high. Nevertheless 
business is continued, and booths are opened for the sale of 
goods. Prices, however, are enormously raised, and sugar 
costs one silver rouble per pound. The supply of meat is more 
than abundant, but bread is exceedingly scarce.” 

May 30th.—The flotilla of the Allies has returned from the 
Sea of Azoff. It destroyed 106 Russian merchantmen at Ber- 
diaansk. The expedition has captured 90 guns of different calibre. 
The Russians have only one small steamer in the Sea of Azoff 

May 31st.—On the refusal of the military authorities of 
Genitchi, situate on the northern extremity of the tongue ot 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


119 


land of Arabat, to give up the government stores and 90 vessels 
laden with provisions for the Eussian army in the Crimea, the 
squadron, under'the orders of Captain Lyons, bombarded the 
place, drove out the troops, and destroyed all the stores. 

The Eussians have thus lost, in four days, an immense quan¬ 
tity of provisions, four war-steamers, and 240 vessels employed 
exclusively in provisioning the troops in the Crimea. 

June 4th.—The British and French fleets were close to 
Cronstadt. The Eussian ships were nearly all dismantled in 
harbor; only three steamers were serviceable. Admiral Dundas 
has been in the Merlin to get a nearer view of the fortifications, 
and to satisfy himself as to the propriety of an attack; he 
thinks it impracticable. New works have been added since 
last year. 

Sixteen Eussian merchantmen, most of them loaded with 
timber, fiave been captured and destroyed near Cronstadt, and 
others run ashore and burned. 

June 6th.—The Allies in force opened a fire along the 
whole range of their position on Sebastopol. The cannonading 
was continued during the day; 547 guns and mortars were 
brought in play. 

June 7th.—The English Naval Brigade continued their 
fire on the Eedan Tower, and in a short time it gave unmis¬ 
takable evidence of the rough treatment it had received, the 
jaws of its embrasures gaping, and its fire being irregular and 
interrupted. About 3 o’clock the fire of the Allies was re¬ 
newed, with an access of fury, and continued until the capture 
of the Mamelon Tower and the Quarries. The following ac¬ 
count of which, by an eye-witness, is subjoined: 

“ Between five and six, Lord Eaglan and his staff took up a 
conspicuous position on the edge of the hill, where it com¬ 
mands the English four-gun battery, and looks straight into the 
teeth of the Eedan. Sir Colin Campbell was observed to plant 
himself on the next summit still nearer to the enemy, com¬ 
monly called the Green Hill. His appearance drew some fire, 
and the shells dropped and flashed close by, but without dis¬ 
concerting his purpose of having a thorough good look-out 
place. About half-past six the head of the French attacking 
column came into view from these two spots, as it climbed its 
arduous road to the Mamelon. A rocket instantly went off as 
the signal of our diversion, and as instantly the small force of 
our men detached for the post of honor made a rush at the 
Quarries. After one slight check they drove out the Eussians, 
and turning round the gabions commenced making themselves 
snug. The French went up the steep to the Mamelon in most 
beautiful style and in loose order, and were seen running, climb¬ 
ing, scrambling like skirmishers up the slopes on to the body 


120 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


of the work amid a plunging fire from the Russian guns, which, 
owing to their loose formation, did them as yet little damage. 
The Zouaves were upon the parapets firing.down into the place 
from above; the next moment a flag was up as rally ing-point 
and defiance, and was seen to sway hither and thither, now up, 
now down, as the tide of battle raged round it; and now like 
a swarm they were in the heart of the Mamelon, and a fierce 
hand-to-hand encounter here with the musket, there with the 
bayonet, was evident. It was seven minutes and a half from 
the commencement of the enterprise. Then there came a rush 
through the angle where they had entered, and there was a 
momentary confusion outside. Groups, some idle, some busy, 
some wounded, were collected on the hither side, standing in 
shelter, and now and then to the far corner a shell flew from 
the English battery facing it. But hardly had the need of 
support become manifest, and a gun or two again flashed from 
the embrasure against them, than there was another run in, 
another sharp bayonet-fight inside, and this time the Russians 
went out, spiking their guns. Twice the Russians made head 
against the current, for they had a large mass of troops in 
reserve, covered by the guns of the Round Tower. Twice they 
were forced back by the onsweeping flood of French, who 
fought as if they had eyes upon them to sketch the swift event 
in detail. For ten minutes or so the quick flash and roll of 
small-arms had declared that the uncertain fight waxed and 
waned inside the inclosure. Then the back-door, if one may 
use a humble metaphor, was burst open. The noise of the con¬ 
flict went away down the descent on the side towards the town, 
and the arena grew larger. It was apparent that the Russians 
had been reinforced by the space over which the battle spread. 
When the higher ground again became the seat of action, then 
there came the second rush of the French back upon their sup¬ 
ports, for the former one was a mere reflux or eddy of the 
stream. When rocket after rocket went up ominously from 
the French General’s position, and seemed to emphasize by 
their repetition some very plain command, we began to get 
nervous. It was growing darker and darker too, so that with 
our glasses we could with difficulty distinguish the actual state 
of affairs. At last, through the twilight, we discerned that the 
French were pouring in. After the interval of doubt, our ears 
eould gather that the swell and babble of the fight was once 
more rolling down the inner face of the hill, and that the 
Russians were conclusively beaten. ‘ They are well into it this 
time,’ says one to another, handing over the glass. The musket 
flashes were no more to be seen within it. There was no more 
lightning of the heavy guns from the embrasures. A shapeless 
hump upon a hill, the Mamelon was an extinct volcano 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


121 


u Then, at last, the more hidden struggle of our own men in 
the hollow on the left came uppermost. ‘How are our fellows 
getting on ?’ says one. ‘ Oh! take my word for it, they’re all 
right,’ says another. And they were right, so far as the occu¬ 
pation and retention of the quarries was concerned, but had, 
nevertheless, to fight all night, and repel six successive attacks 
of the Russians, who displayed the most singular pertinacity 
and recklessness of life. As it grew dark, our advanced battery 
under the Green Hill made very pretty practice and pretty 
spectacle, by flipping shells over our men’s heads at the Rus¬ 
sians. Meanwhile the fall of the Mamelon and the pursuit of 
the flying foe, did not by any means bring the combat to an 
end on the side of the Allies. The Zouaves, emboldened by 
their success, and enraged by their losses, carried their powers a 
step too far, and dreamt of getting into the Round Tower by a 
coup de main. A new crop of battle grew up over all the in¬ 
tervening hollow between it and the Mamelon, and the ripple 
of musket-shots plashed and leaped over the broad hill-side. 
The combatants were not enough for victory there too, but 
they were enough for a sanguinary and prolonged contest. 
The tower itselfj or rather the inglorious stump of what was 
the Round Tower, took and gave shot and shell and musketry 
with the most savage ardor and rapidity. The fire of its mus¬ 
ketry was like one sheet of flame rolling backwards and for¬ 
wards with a dancing movement. Our gunners, observing the 
duration and aim of the skirmish, redoubled their exertions, 
and flung their shells into the Round Tower with admirable 
precision, doing immense mischief to the defenders. From 
Gordon’s battery and the second parallel they streamed and 
plunged into the enciente up to which the Zouaves had won 
their way unsupported, heralded every now and then by the 
prompt and decisive ring of a round shot. The Russian de¬ 
fense, rather than their defenses, crumbled away before the 
tremendous fire ; but on the other hand, the attack not being 
fed, as it was not designed, began to languish, and died gra¬ 
dually away. It was a drawn battle so far; but there may be 
another story to-morrow.” 

12 P.M. —The French are putting the new front of their po¬ 
sition in a state of defense, and employing an immense number 
of hands. Our men are still in their warm berth in the Redan, 
repelling the attacks of the Russians. There was but one em¬ 
brasure left in a comfortable state in the Redan at the end of 
the evening, and the quarries are too close under it for heavy 
guns to be brought to bear. 

June 8th.—During the night repeated attacks, six in all, were 
made upon our men in the quarries, who defended their new 
acquisition with the utmost courage and pertinacity, and at a 


122 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


great sacrifice of life, against superior numbers, continually 
replenished. The strength of the party told off for the attack 
was in all only 1000, of whom 600 were in support. At the 
commencement 200 only went in, and another 200 followed. 
More than once there was a fierce hand-to-hand fight in the 
position itself, and our fellows had frequently to dash out in 
front and take their assailants in flank. The most murderous 
sortie of the enemy took place about three in the morning, 
when the whole ravine was lighted up with a blaze of fire, and 
a storm of shot thrown in from the Strand Battery and every 
other spot within range. The Russian gunners were not very 
active through the night; indeed, there was little for them to 
do, and they are evidently shy of throwing away ammunition. 
The French were losing no time in the Mamelon, in which, by 
the bye, they found only seven guns, five of them spiked. W hen 
morning dawned, the position held by both parties was one of 
expectation. The French were in great force within and on 
the outer slopes of the Mamelon, and also in possession of two 
out of the three offsets attached to the Mamelon on the Sapoune 
hill. On the rear of the Mamelon their efforts to entrench 
themselves were being occasionally interrupted by shells from 
the ships in harbor, and from a battery not hitherto known to 
exist, further down the hill. On our side 365 rank and file 
and 35 officers had been killed and wounded. On the French 
side nearly double the number of officers, and a total of not 
less than 1500 men, probably more. It has been stated as 
high as 3700, but there must be error in the statement. 

June 18th.—The English troops attacked the Redan Tower, 
and the French the Malakoff Tower, at daylight, but were 
repulsed by the Russians with great slaughter. The Allied 
troops carried the outworks of the Redan, but found that the 
Russians had prepared a deep trench, which it was impossible 
to pass without either scaling-ladders or planks. The assailants 
were here exposed to a most murderous fire, after sustaining, 
it is said, a loss of from 4000 to 5000 men, and having 40 
officers killed. The casualties were much augmented by the 
guns on the Malakoff enfilading the outworks of the Redan, 
added to which the men-of-war in the harbor were laid broad¬ 
side on, and by their fire on the retiring troops caused fearful 
havoc, there being no cover or shelter whatever from the 
storm of projectiles. 

The losses of the Allied troops are believed to be greater than 
in any former action of the war. Sir John Campbell, Colonel 
Yea of the 7th, Colonel Shadforth of the 57th, and many other 
officers of distinguished gallantry, fell in the English ranks, 
while the French have lost two general officers and a vast 
number of men in all branches of the service. 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


123 


la order to convey a correct idea of the attack of the 18th 
June, we extract the following from the private letter of an 
English officer who took part in it. He says: 

“ It is no use my attempting to tell you what was done or 
doing on the 18th. We failed, I fear, altogether, and with 
great loss. There was a complicated plan of attack, of the 
success of which I always had doubts. Had 70,000 men been 
let loose at the place at an appointed time, and at all points, 
with no other word of command than go ahead at a certain 
signal, I do believe the place would have been taken with a 
loss of from 7000 to 10,000 in killed and wounded; and this 
would have been about the proportionate loss in such a num¬ 
ber in any hard-fought engagement. Still the loss in such a 
mode of attack might have been less than even our loss on the 
18th, for. the Russians might not have withstood the onset of 
such a host; but when they saw driblets of only 400 men 
coming here and there, and straight at their strongest points, 
they naturally felt confidence in their superiority of numbers 
and position. During the flag of truce, a Russian officer, 
speaking to one of ours of the attack of the Redan, said: “ How 
could you think of attacking such a place with 400 men? Your 
men are indeed lions, but your officers must be donkeys.” 

The English Naval Brigade suffered considerably in the 
attack on the Redan; 14 were killed and 47 wounded, out of 
the small number composing it. When the men retreated, 
overwhelmed by the storm from the enemy’s battery, several 
officers and men were left behind wounded, and endured fear¬ 
ful agonies for hours, without a cup of water or a cheering 
voice to comfort them. 

June 19th.— To-day an armistice was demanded for a few 
hours in order to bury the dead. After some delay it was 
acceded to by the Russians, who were rather reluctant to grant 
an armistice, when they had no occasion to go outside their 
lines for their dead or wounded. It was a very hot day, and 
of all the places in the world where heat displays its utmost 
power, a trench before Sebastopol is the most intolerable. An 
eye-witness thus describes the heart-rending scene: 

“ It was agonizing to see the wounded men who were lying 
there under a broiling sun, parched with excruciating thirst, 
racked with fever, and agonized with pain — to behold them 
waving their caps faintly, or making signals towards our lines, 
over which they could see the white flag waving, and not to 
be able to help them. They lay where they fell, or had scram¬ 
bled. into the holes formed by shells; and there they had been 
for thirty hours — oh! how long and how dreadful in their 
weariness ! An officer told me that one soldier- who was close 
to the abattis, when he saw a few men come out of an embra- 


124 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


sure, raised himself on his elbow, and fearing he should be un¬ 
noticed and passed by, raised his cap on a stick and waved it 
till he fell back exhausted. Again he rose, and managed to 
tear off his shirt, which he agitated in the air till his strength 
failed him. His face could be seen through a glass, and my 
friend said he could never forget the expression of resignation 
and despair with which the poor fellow at last abandoned his 
useless efforts, and folded his shirt under his head to await the 
mercy of Heaven. Whether he was alive or not when our men 
went out, I can not say; but five hours of thirst, fever, and 
pain, under a fierce sun, would make awful odds against him. 
The red-coats lay sadly thick over the broken ground in front 
of the abattis of the Redan, and blue and gray coats were 
scattered about, or lay in piles in the rain-courses before the 
Malakoff.” 

The Russians assisted their enemy in gathering in the dead 
and dying, asking many questions as regards the assault, etc. 
Their “ pumping” inclination, however, was so marked, as in 
most cases to defeat itself. The whole sad duty was soon per¬ 
formed, and the truce brought to an end. After the armistice, 
the Russians made another sortie in force against the advanced 
works of the Allies, and were, after some severe fighting, re¬ 
pulsed with inconsiderable loss. The Second Brigade (English) 
succeeded in taking the cemetery and one house near the town, 
which they held for some days—not, however, without con¬ 
siderable daily loss of men and material. 

June 24th. —No move of importance has occurred in the 
siege operations since the 19th. Both armies are pushing for¬ 
ward their works with vigor. Major-General Estcourt, Adju¬ 
tant-General of the English Army, died to-day of cholera. 

June 28th. —Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, G. C. B., Com¬ 
mander-in-chief of the English Army in the Crimea, died to-day, 
and the command of the army devolved on Lieutenant-General 
James Simpson. 

July 3d. —Occasional sorties by the Russians disturb the 
Allies, and impede the progress of their sapping operations. 
The event of the day has been the foneral procession of the 
late Lord Raglan, from the head-quarters' house to the “ Cara- 
doc,” which was waiting at Kazatch Bay, to convey the remains 
to England. 

July 4th. —The heightening of the Allied parapets in front 
of the Malakoff is progressing, notwithstanding the heavy 
Russian fire on the working parties. 

July 7th. —The fire from the Russian batteries was particu¬ 
larly active during the day, and was confined to mortar prac¬ 
tice, which successfully defeated the projects of the Allies in 
pushing forward their mining operations. 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


125 


July 10th. —A powerful fire was opened this morning 
against the Eedan tower, by the Allies, and continued during 
the day, but without material benefit. 

August 16th —The long-threatened attack of the Russians 
on the Tchernaya was commenced to-day, and resulted in a 
severe repulse to their arms. The action commenced before 
daylight by a heavy column of Russians under the command 
of General Liprandi, and composed of the 6th and 17th Divi¬ 
sions, with the 4th and 7th Divisions in reserve, attacking the 
advanced posts of the Sardinians. 

The ground occupied by them is on commanding hills on 
the right of the position, on the left bank of the Souhaia river, 
where it forms its junction with the Tchernaya, with two ad¬ 
vanced posts on the opposite side. These were held with very 
determined gallantry for a considerable time, but being sepa¬ 
rated from .their supports by the river, and not having the pro¬ 
tection of artillery, they were compelled to leave the most ad¬ 
vanced one. 

About the same time the 5th and 12th Divisions, to which 
was added a portion of the 17th, advanced against the bridge 
of Traktir, held by one battalion of French infantry of the line, 
who were for a short time obliged to yield and fall back upon 
the main supports; with these, however, they quickly re-took 
the bridge at the point of the bayonet. 

Again the Russians attacked with persevering courage, and 
were enabled to follow up their advantage by gaining the 
heights which rise precipitously on each side of the road; their 
success was but momentary; they were driven back across the 
river, leaving the ground covered with dead and wounded. 

The Russian general, in no way daunted by the failure of 
his two attempts, ordered a second column, of equal force to 
the first, to attack; they advanced with such impetuosity, cov¬ 
ered by the fire of their numerous artillery, that a third time 
the bridge was carried, and the heights above it crowned, but 
they were again repulsed, and retired in great confusion into 
the plain, followed by the bayonets of our gallant allies. 

The general officer who commanded the Russian column, and 
who is supposed to be General Read, was killed, and in his 
possession were found the orders for the battle, signed by Prince 
Gortchakoff, who commanded in person. 

The action is most glorious to the arms of the French and 
the Sardinian troops. To meet the force of the Russians the 
former had but 12,000 infantry, and four batteries of artillery 
engaged ; the latter had 10,000 men in position, 4500 actually 
engaged, and 24 pieces of cannon. 

The Russian force consisted of from 50,000 to 60,000 men, 
with 160 pieces of artillery, and cavalry to the amount of 6000. 


126 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


The loss sustained by the Russians is estimated at between 
5000 and 6000 men, including 600 prisoners, while on the 
part of the Allies it does not amount to more than 1000 men. 

August 24th.— The French attacked the Russians, and took 
from them an ambuscade, established on the glacis of the Mala- 
koff. Five hundred Russians made a sortie in order to recover 
it, but they were repulsed with the loss of about 300 men. The 
work was then turned against the Russians. 

August 28th.— A shell from the Russian works struck a 
tumbril discharging powder for the French battery near the 
Mamelon, and exploded, instantly killing forty men and wound¬ 
ing many others. The weight of powder exploded .was about 
seven tons, or 1400 rounds of ten pounds each. 

August 31st.— The Russian Infantry made an attack on the 
5th parallel of the English works, leaped into the trench, and 
took possession, but were repulsed with considerable loss. 

September 3d. —The Russians attacked the French works 
in front of the Mamelon and for the space of twenty minutes 
kept up an “ infernal” fire of musketry, followed by considera¬ 
ble shell practice. The sortie was a desperate one and the loss 
heavy; the French had at least 300 men put hors du combat. 
After an hour’s hand-to-hand fighting, the Russians retired, 
leaving their quota of dead and dying on the field. 


FALL OF SEBASTOPOL. 

On Saturday, the 8th of September, 1855, within a few days 
of the anniversary of the landing of the allied forces in the 
Crimea, and 316 days after the opening of the besieging batte¬ 
ries against Sebastopol, on the 17th of October, 1854, a final 
and victorious assault was made upon the southern part of the 
town. Before night the French flag waved in triumph upon 
the Malakoff Tower, which had fallen before the indomitable 
courage and perseverance of the assailants; and within a few 
hours more the Russian garrison had evacuated the Karabel- 
naia suburb and the southern portion of the fortress, after 
blowing up the magazines and principal works, setting fire to 
the town in many places, and then endeavoring to withdraw 
by the bridge across the harbor from this terrific scene of de¬ 
vastation and defeat. So fell Sebastopol. The catastrophe 
surpasses in horrible interest ail the preceding scenes of this 
gigantic contest. The columns of the allied armies, combined 
in a fourfold attack, struggled all day with equal valor, though 
with unequal success, against the principal points marked out 
for assault. The extreme right of the French attack was di- 


THE DAY OP JHE ASSAULT — THE REDAN. 


127 


reeted against the work called the Little Redan, which was at 
first carried by the impetuosity of the French, though they 
were subsequently driven back by the fierce resistance of the 
Russians. The second and principal assault of the French 
army was against the MalakofF, which was carried by storm, 
and determined by its fall the fate, not only of the day, but of 
the siege. A third attack was made by the British forces on 
the Great Redan, and although the salient angle of this form¬ 
idable work was at one moment carried and occupied by the 
English troops, they were subsequently driven out of it by the 
fire of the Russian batteries which commanded it. The French 
columns on the left also assailed, in the fourth place, the Central 
Battery, but failed to establish themselves in the work. No 
doubt every man who attacked the defenses of Sebastopol on 
that eventful day fought with the same undaunted gallantry 
and the same determination to carry the place or to perish in 
the attempt; and, although the results of these several attacks 
were unequal, all were animated by the same spirit and con¬ 
tributed to the great result. The first prize of this glorious 
victory belongs of right to the French, since the Malakoff 
Tower, the key of the main position, fell before the vigor of 
their assault. The Russians on their side defended the place 
with the utmost determination, and on more than one point 
they had the advantage over the besiegers. No sooner were 
the outer works taken, which laid the town and the port at the 
mercy of the allied forces, than the men-of-war and steamers 
in the harbor were all set on fire, blown up, sunk, or destroyed, 
either by the fire of the allied batteries or by the orders of the 
Russian authorities. Such was the fate of the Russian Black 
Sea fleet, on which the Imperial government had expended in¬ 
calculable sums of money and incessant labor—that fleet which 
two years ago threatened the very existence of the Turkish 
empire. 

The following graphic description of the Assault and Fall 
of Sebastopol is from the pen of the London Times 1 correspond¬ 
ent in the English Camp: 


THE DAY OF THE ASSAULT —THE REDAN. 

Saturday, September 8th. —The weather changed suddenly 
yesterday. This morning it became bitterly cold. A biting 
wind right from the north side of Sebastopol blew intolerable 
clouds of harsh dust into our faces. The sun was obscured; 
the sky was of a leaden wintry gray. Early in the morning a 


128 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


strong force of cavalry, under the command of Coionel Hodge, 
was moved up to the front and formed a chain of sentries in 
front of Cathcart’s Hill and all along our lines. No person 
was allowed to pass this line, unless he was a staff officer or 
was provided with a pass. Another line of sentries in the 
rear of them was intended to stop stragglers and idlers from 
Balaklava, and the object in view was probably to prevent the 
Russians gathering any intimation of our attack from the un¬ 
usual accumulation of people on the look-out hills. If that 
were so, it would have been better to have kept the cavalry 
more to the rear, and not to display to the enemy a line of 
hussars, lancers, and dragoons along our front. At 11.30 the 
Highland Brigade, under the command of Brigadier Cameron, 
marched up from Kamara and took up its position in reserve at 
the right attack, and the Guards, also in reserve, were posted 
on the same side of the Woronzoff Road. The first brigade of 
the fourth division served the trenches of the left attack the 
night before, and remained in them. The second brigade of 
the fourth division was in reserve. The Guards, who served 
the trenches of the left attack, and only marched out that 
morning, were turned out again after arriving at their camp. 
The third division, massed on the hill-side before their camp, 
were also in reserve, in readiness to move down by the left at¬ 
tack, in case their services were required. General Pelissier 
during the night collected about 30,000 men about the Mamelon 
to form the storming columns for the Malakoff and Little 
Redan and to provide the necessary reserves. The French 
were reinforced by 5000 Sardinians, who marched up from the 
Tchernaya last night. It was arranged that the French were 
to attack the Malakoff at noon, and as soon as their attack 
began, that we were to assault the Redan. At the same time 
a strong column of French was to make a diversion on the 
left and menace the line of the Bastion du Mat. The cavalry 
sentries were posted at 8.30. At 10.30 the second division and 
the light division moved down to the trenches, and were placed 
in the advanced parallels as quietly and unostentatiously as 
possible. About the same hour General Simpson and staff 
moved down to the second parallel of the Green Hill Battery. 
Sir Harry Jones, too ill to move hand or foot, nevertheless 
insisted on being carried down to witness the assault, and was 
borne to the parallel on a litter, in which he remained till all 
was over. It was a bitter cold day, and a stranger would have 
been astonished at the aspect of the British Generals as they 
viewed the assault. The Commander-in-Chief, General Simp¬ 
son, sat in the trench, with his nose and eyes just facing the cold 
«md dust, and his cloak drawn up over his head to protect him 


/ 


/ 



\ 











THE DAY OF THE ASSAULT—THE REDAN. 


129 


against both. General Jones wore a red night-cap, and reclined 
on his litter; and Sir Richard Airey, the Quartermaster-General, 
had a white pocket-handkerchief tied over his cap and ears, 
which detracted somewhat from a martial and belligerent as¬ 
pect. The Duke of Newcastle was stationed at Cathcart’s Hill 
in the early part of the day, and afterwards moved off to the 
right to the picket-house, over the Woronzoff road. All the 
amateurs and gentlemen were in a state of great excitement, 
and dotted the plain in eccentric attire—which recalled one’s 
old memories of Cowes, and yachting and sea-bathing—were 
engaged in a series of subtle manoeuvres to turn the flank of 
unwary sentries, and to get to the front, and their success was 
most creditable to their enterprise and ingenuity. The Tartars, 
Turks, and Eupatorians were singularly perturbed for such 
placid people, and thronged every knoll which commanded the 
smallest view of the place. At 10.45 General Pelissier and his 
staff went up to the French Observatory on the right. The 
French trenches were crowded with men as close as they could 
pack, and we could see our men through the breaks in the 
clouds of dust, which were most irritating, all ready in their 
trenches. The cannonade languished purposely towards noon; 
but the Russians, catching sight of the cavalry and troops in 
front, began to shell Cathcart’s Hill and the heights, and dis¬ 
turbed the equanimity of some of the spectators by their shells 
bursting with loud “ thuds” right over their heads. A few 
minutes before 12 o’clock the French, like a swarm of bees, 
issued forth from their trenches close to the doomed Malakoff, 
swarmed up its face, and were through the embrasures in the 
twinkling of an eye. They crossed the seven metres of ground 
which separated them from the enemy at a few bounds—they 
drifted as lightly and quickly as autumn leaves before the 
wind, battalion after battalion, into the embrasures, and, in a 
minute or two after the head of their column issued from the 
ditch, the tri-color was floating over the Korniloff Bastion. 
The musketry was very feeble at first; indeed, our allies took 
the Russians quite by surprise, and very few of the latter were 
in the Malakoff; but they soon recovered themselves, and from 
twelve o’clock till past seven in the evening, the French had 
to meet and defeat the repeated attempts of the enemy to re¬ 
gain the work and the Little Redan, when, weary of the fearful 
slaughter of his men, who lay in thousands over the exterior 
of the works, the Muscovite general, despairing of success, 
withdrew his exhausted legions, and prepared, with admirable 
skill, to evacuate the place. Of the French attack on the left 
I know nothing, but that, if intended in earnest, it was not 
successful, and was followed by some loss to our allies. As 


9 


130 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


goon as the tri-color was observed waving over the parapet of 
the Malakoff through the smoke and dust, four rockets were 
sent up from Chapman’s attack one after another, as a signal 
for our assault on the Redan. They were almost borne back 
by the violence of the wind, and the silvery jets of sparks 
they threw out, on exploding, were nearly invisible against the 
raw gray sky. 

When the order was received on the 7th, the general remark 
was—“This looks like another 18th of June.” In fact, the 
attacking columns were not strong enough, the supports were 
not strong enough, and were also too far behind, and the 
trenches did not afford room for a sufficient number of men. 
Now, it will be observed that, where we attacked the Redan 
with two divisions only, a portion of each being virtually in 
reserve, and not engaged in the affair at all, the French made 
their assault on the Malakoff with four divisions of the second 
corps d’armee, the first and fourth divisions forming the storm¬ 
ing columns, and the third and fifth being the support, with 
reserves of 10,000 men. The French had probably not less 
than 30,000 men in the right attack on the 7th of September. 
The divisional orders for the Second Division were very much 
the same as those for the Light Division. The covering party 
consisted of 100 men of the Third Buffs, under Captain John 
Lewes, who highly distinguished himself, and 100 men of the 
Second battalion of the Rifle Brigade, I believe under the com¬ 
mand of poor Captain Hammond. The scaling ladder party 
consisted of 160 of the 3d Buffs, under Captain Maude, whose 
gallantry was very conspicuous throughout the affair, in addi¬ 
tion to the 160 of the 97th, under the gallant and lamented 
Welsford. The part of the force of the Second Division con¬ 
sisted of 260 of the 3d Buffs, 300 of the 41st, (Welsh,) 200 of 
the 62d, and a working party of 100 men of the 41st. The 
rest of Windham’s Brigade, consisting of the 47th and 49th, 
were in reserve, together with Warren’s brigade of the same 
division, of which the 30th and 55th were called into action, 
and suffered severely. Brigadier Shirley was on board ship, 
but as soon as he heard of the assault he resolved to join his 
brigade, and he accordingly came up to the camp that very 
morning. Colonel Unett, of the 19th Regiment, was the senior 
officer in Brigadier Shirley’s absence, and on him would have 
devolved the duty of leading the storming column of the light 
division, had the latter not returned. Colonel Unett, ignorant 
of the Brigadier’s intention to leave shipboard, had to decide 
with Colonel Windham, who should take precedence in the 
attack. They tossed, and Colonel Unett won. He had it in 
his power to say whether he would go first or follow Colonel 


THE DAY OF THE ASSAULT — THE REDAN. 


iai 


Windham. He looked at the shilling, turned it over, and said, 
“ My choice is made; I’ll be the first man into the Redan.’ 1 
But fate willed it otherwise, and he was struck down badly 
wounded ere yet he reached the abattis although he was not 
leading the column. Scarcely had the men left the fifth paral¬ 
lel when the guns on the flank of the Redan opened on them 
as they moved up rapidly to the salient, in which there were of 
course no cannon, as the nature of such a work does not per¬ 
mit of their being placed in that particular position. In a few 
seconds Brigadier Shirley was temporarily blinded by the dust 
and the earth knocked into his eyes by a shot. He was 
obliged to retire, and his place was taken by Lieutenant-colonel 
Bunbury, of the 23d Regiment, who was next in rank to 
^Colonel Unett, already struck down and carried to the rear. 
Brigadier Yan Straubenzee received a contusion on the face, 
and was also forced to leave the field. Colonel Handcock fell 
mortally wounded in the head by a bullet, and never spoke 
again. Captain Hammond fell dead. Major Welsford was 
killed on the spot Captain Grove was severely wounded. 
Many officers and men were hit and fell; and of the command¬ 
ers of parties, only acting Brigadier-general Windham, Captain 
Fyers, Captain Lewes, and Captain Maude got, untouched, into 
the Redan, and escaped scatheless from the volleys of grape 
and rifle balls which swept the flanks of the work towards the 
salient. 

It was a few minutes after twelve when our men left the 
fifth parallel. The musketry commenced at once, and in less 
than five minutes, during which the troops had to pass over 
about thirty yards from the nearest approach to the parapet of 
the Redan, they had lost a large proportion of their officers, 
and were deprived of the aid of their leaders, with the excep¬ 
tions I have stated. The riflemen advanced admirably, but, 
from their position, they could not do much to reduce the fire 
of the guns on the flanks and below the reentering angles. 
The bravery and coolness of that experienced, deserving, and 
much-neglected officer, Captain Fyers, were never more bril¬ 
liantly displayed, or urgently called for. As they came nearer 
the enemy’s fire became less fatal. They crossed the abattis 
without difficulty; it was torn to pieces and destroyed by our 
shot, and the men stepped over ana through it with ease. The 
light division made straight for the salient and projecting angle 
of the Redan, and came to the ditch, which is here about fif¬ 
teen feet deep. The party detailed for the purpose placed the 
ladders, but they were found to be too short. However, had 
there been enough of them, that would not have mattered 
much, but some had been left behind in the hands of the dead 


132 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


or wounded men, and others had been broken, so that if on© 
can credit the statements made by those who were present, 
there were not more than six or seven ladders at th& salient. 
The men, led by their officers, leaped into the ditch and scram¬ 
bled up the other side, whence they got up the parapet almost 
without opposition, for the few Russians who were in front ran 
back and got behind their traverses and breastworks as soon 
as they saw our men on the top, and opened fire upon them. 
To show what different impressions the same object can make 
on different people, let me remark that one officer of rank told 
me the Russians in the Redan did not exceed 150 men when 
he got into it, and that the men could have carried the breast¬ 
work with the greatest ease if they had only made a rush for 
it, and he expressed an opinion that they had no field pieces 
inside the breastwork. A regimental officer, on the other hand 
positively assured me that when he got on top of the parapet 
of the salient he saw, about one hundred yards in advance of 
him, a breastwork with gaps in it, through which were run the 
muzzles of field pieces, and that in the rear of it were com¬ 
pact masses of Russian infantry, the front rank kneeling with 
fixed bayonets as if prepared to receive a charge of cavalry, 
while the two rear ranks over them kept up a sharp and de¬ 
structive fire on our men. The only way to reconcile these 
discrepancies is to suppose that the first spoke of the earliest 
stage of the assault, that the latter referred to a later period 
when the Russians may have opened the embrasures in the 
breastwork, and had been reinforced by the fugitives from the 
Malakoff, and by the troops behind the barracks in its rear. 
Lamentable as it no doubt is, and incredible almost to those 
who know how the British soldier generally behaves before 
the enemy, the men, when they got on the parapet, were seized 
by some strange infatuation, and began firing, instead of fol¬ 
lowing their officers, who now began to fall fast as they rushed 
on in front and tried to stimulate their soldiers by their exam¬ 
ple. Notwithstanding the popular prejudice to the contrary, 
most men stand fire much better than closing with an enemy. 
It is difficult enough sometimes to get cavalry to charge if 
they can find any decent excuse to lay by their swords and 
take to pistol and carbine, with which they are content to pop 
away for ever, but when cover of any kind is near at hand, a 
trench-bred infantry-man finds the charm of the cartridge quite 
irresistible. The small party of the 90th, much diminished, 
went on gallantly towards the breastwork, but they were too 
weak to force it, and thev had to retire and get behind the 
traverses, where' men of different regiments had already con¬ 
gregated, and were keeping up a brisk fire on the Russians, 


THE DAY OF THE ASSAULT—THE REDAN. 


133 


•whose heads were just visible above the breastwork. Simul¬ 
taneously with the head of the storming party of the Light 
Division, Colonel Windham had got inside the Redan on their 
right, below the salient on the proper left face of the Redan; 
but, in spite of all his exertions, could do little more than the 
gallant officers of the 90th and 97th, and of the supporting regi¬ 
ments. 

As the Light Division rushed out in the front they were 
swept by the guns of the Barrack Battery and by several 
pieces on the proper right of the Redan, loaded heavily with 
grape, which caused them considerable loss ere they reached 
the salient or apex of the work at which they were to assault. 
The storming columns of the second division issuing out of the 
fifth parallel rushed up immediately after the light division, 
but when they came up close to the apex, Brigadier Windham 
very judiciously brought them by a slight detour on the right 
flank of the light division, so as to come a little down on the 
slope of the proper left face of the Redan. The first embrasure 
to which they came was in flames, but, moving on to the next, 
the men leaped into the ditch, and with the aid of ladders and 
each other’s hands, scrambled up on the other side, climbed 
the parapet, or poured in through the embrasure, which was 
undefended. Colonel Windham was the first or one of the 
first men in on this side, and with him entered Daniel Mahoney, 
a great grenadier of the 41st, Killeany and Cornellis of the 
same regiment. As Mahoney entered with a cheer, he was 
shot through the head by a Russian rifleman, and fell dead 
across Colonel Windham, and at the same moment Killeany 
and Cornellis were both wounded. The latter claims the re¬ 
ward of £5 offered by Colonel Herbert to the first man of his 
division who entered the Redan. Running parallel to the faces 
of the Redan there is an inner parapet intended to shield the 
gunners at the embrasures from the effects of any shell which 
might fall into the body of the work, and strike them down if 
this high bank were not there to protect them from the splin¬ 
ters. Several cuts in the rear of the embrasures permitted the 
men to retire in case of need inside; very strong and high tra¬ 
verses ran along the sides of the work itself to afford them ad¬ 
ditional shelter. At the base of the Redan, before the reentering 
angles, is a breastwork, or, rather, a parapet with an irregular 
curve, up to a man’s nfcck, which runs in front of the body of 
the place. As our men entered through the embrasures, the 
few Russians who were between the salient and this breastwork 
retreated behind the latter, and got from the traverses to its 
protection. From it they poured in a quick fire on the parapet 
of the salient, which was crowded by the men of the Light 


134 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


Division, and on the gaps through the inner parapet of the Re¬ 
dan ; and our men, with an infatuation w hich all officers deplore, 
but can not always remedy on such occasions, began to return 
the fire of the enemy without advancing or crossing behind the 
traverses, loaded and fired as quickly as they could, but did 
little execution, as the Russians were well covered by the 
breastwork. There were also groups of Russian riflemen be¬ 
hind the lower traverses near the base of the Redan, who kept 
up a galling fire on our men. As the alarm of an assault was 
spread, the enemy came rushing up from the barracks in 
rear of the Redan, and increased the force and intensity of their 
fire, while our soldiers dropped fast, and encouraged the Rus¬ 
sians by their immobility and the weakness of their fusilade, 
from which the enemy were well protected. In vain the offi¬ 
cers, by voice and act, by example and daring, tried to urge 
our soldiers on. They had an impression that the Redan was 
all mined, and that if they advanced they would all be blown 
up; but many of them acted as became the men of Alma and 
Inkermann, and, rushing to the front, were swept down by the 
enemy’s fire. The officers fell on all sides, singled out for the 
enemy’s fire by their courage. The men of the different regi¬ 
ments became mingled together in inextricable confusion. The 
19th men did not care for the orders of the officers of the 88th, 
nor did the soldiers of the 23d heed the commands of an officer 
who did not belong to their regiment. The officers could not 
find their men—the men had lost sight of their own officers. 
All the brigadiers save Colonel Windham were wounded or 
rendered unfit for the guidance of the attack. That gallant 
officer did all that man could do to form his men for the attack, 
and lead them against the enemy. Proceeding from traverse 
to traverse, he coaxed the men to come out, and succeeded 
several times in forming a few of them, but they melted away 
as fast as he laid hold of them, and either fell in their little 
ranks or retired to cover to keep up their fusilade. Many of 
them crowded to lower parts of the inner parapet and kept up 
a smart fire on the enemy, but nothing would induce them to 
come out into the open space and charge the breastwork. This 
was all going on at the proper left face of the Redan, while 
nearly the same scene was being repeated at the salient. Every 
moment our men were diminishing in numbers, while the Rus¬ 
sians came up in swarms from the town, and rushed down from 
the Malakoff, which had now been occupied by the French. 
Thrice did Colonel Windham send officers to Sir W. Codring- 
ton, who was in the fifth parallel, begging of him to send up 
supports in some order of formation ; but all these three offi¬ 
cers were wounded as they passed from the ditch of the Redan 


• * 



GENERAL WINDHAM. 


* 




























THE DAY OF THE ASSAULT — THE REDAN. 135 

to the rear, and the colonel’s own aid-de-camp, Lieutenant 
Swire, of the 17th, a gallant young officer, was hit dangerously 
in the hip, as he went on his perilous errand. Supports were, 
indeed, sent up, but they came up in disorder from the fire to 
which they were exposed on their way, and arrived in driblets 
only to increase the confusion and the carnage. Finding that 
he could not collect any men on the left face, Colonel Wind¬ 
ham passed through one of the cuts of the inner parapet and 
walked over to the right face, at the distance of thirty yards 
from the Russian breastwork, to which he moved in a parallel 
line, exposed to a close fire, but, wonderful to say, without 
being touched. When he got behind the inner parapet at the 
right face, he found the same state of things as that which ex¬ 
isted at the left. The men were behind the traverses, firing 
away at the Russians, or blazing at them from the broken parts 
of the front; and the soldiers, who came down from the salient 
in front, only got behind these works for cover while they 
loaded and fired at the enemy. The Colonel got some riflemen 
and a few men of the 88th together; but no sooner had he 
brought them out than they were killed, wounded, or dispersed 
by a concentrated fire. The officers, with the noblest devotion, 
aided Colonel Windham, and became the special marks of the 
enemy’s riflemen. The narrow neck of the salient was too 
close to allow of any kind of formation, and the more the men 
crowded into it the more they got out of order, and the more 
they suffered from the enemy’s fire. This miserable work 
lasted for an hour. The Russians were now in dense masses 
behind the breastwork, and Colonel Windham walked back 
again across the open space to the left to make one more at¬ 
tempt to retrieve the day. The men on the parapet of the 
salient, who were firing at the Russians, sent their shot at him, 
and the latter, who were pouring volley after volley on all 
points of the head of the work, likewise directed their muskets 
against him, but he passed through this cross fire in safety, 
and got within the inner parapet on the left, where the men 
were becoming thinner and thinner. A Russian officer now 
stepped over the breastwork, and tore down a gabion with his 
own hands; it was to make room for a field-piece. Colonel 
Windham exclaimed to several soldiers who were firing over 
the parapet, “Well, as you are so fond of firing, why don’t 
you shoot that Russian ?” They fired a volley and missed him, 
and soon afterwards the field-piece began to play on the head 
of the salient with grape. Colonel Windham saw there was no 
time to be lost. He had sent three officers for reinforcements, 
and above all, for men in formation, and he now resolved to go 
to General Codrington himself. Seeing Captain Crealock, of 




136 PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 

the 90th, near to him, busy in encouraging his men, and exerting 
himself with great courage and energy to get them into order, 
he said: “I must go to the general for supports. Now mind, 
let it be known, in case I am killed, why I went away.” He 
crossed the parapet and ditch, and succeeded in gaining the 
fifth parallel, through a storm of grape and rifle bullets, in 
safety. Sir William Codrington asked him if he thought he 
really could do any thing with such supports as he could afford, 
and said he might take the Royals, who were then in the par¬ 
allel. “ Let the officers come out in front—let us advance in 
order, and if the men keep their formation the Eedan is ours,” 
was the Colonel’s reply; but he spoke too late, for at that very 
moment our men were seen leaping down into the ditch, or 
running down the parapet of the salient, and through the em¬ 
brasures out of the work into the ditch, while the Russians 
followed them with the bayonet, and with heavy musketry, 
and even threw stones and grapeshot at them as they lay in 
the ditch. The fact was, that the Russians having accumulated 
several thousands of men behind the breastwork, and seeing 
our men all scattered up and confused behind the inner parapet 
of the traverse, crossed the breastwork, through which several 
field-pieces were now playing with grape on the inner face of 
the Redan, and charged our broken groups with the bayonet, 
at the same time that the rear ranks, getting on the breastwork, 
poured a heavy hail of bullets on them over the heads of the 
advancing column. The struggle that took place was short, 
desperate, and bloody. Our soldiers, taken at every disadvan¬ 
tage, met the enemy with the bayonet too, and isolated com¬ 
bats took place in which the brave fellows who stood their 
ground had to defend themselves against three or four adver¬ 
saries at once. In this melee the officers, armed only with 
tneir swords, had little chance; nor had those who carried 
pistols much opportunity in using them in such a rapid con¬ 
test. They fell like heroes, and many a gallant soldier with 
them. The bodies of English and Russians, locked in an em¬ 
brace which death could not relax, but had rather cemented 
all the closer, lay next day inside the Redan as evidences of the 
terrible animosity of the struggle. But the solid weight of the 
advancing mass, urged on, and fed each moment from the rear 
by company after company and battalion after battalion, pre¬ 
vailed at last against the isolated and disjointed band, who had 
abandoned the protection of unanimity and courage, and had 
lost the advantage of discipline and obedience. As though 
some giant rock had advanced into the sea and forced back the 
waters that buffeted it, so did the Russian columns press down 
s against the spray of soldiery which fretted their edge with fire 


THE DAY OF THE ASSAULT—THE REDAN 


137 


*nd steel, and contended in vain against their weight. The 
straggling band was forced back by the enemy, who moved 
ofi, crushing friend and foe beneath their solid tramp; and 
bleeding, panting, and exhausted, our men lay in heaps in 
the ditch beneath the parapet, sheltered themselves behind 
stones and in bomb-craters in the slope of the work, or endeav¬ 
ored to pass back again to our advanced parallel and sap, and 
had to run the gauntlet of a tremendous fire. Many of them 
lost their lives, or were seriously wounded in this attempt. The 
scene in the ditch was appalling, although some of the officers 
have assured me that they and the men were laughing at the 
precipitation with which many brave and gallant fellows did 
not hesitate to plunge headlong upon the mass of bayonets, 
muskets, and sprawling soldiers. The ladders were all knocked 
down or broken, so that it was difficult for the men to get up 
at the other side, and the dead, the dying, the wounded, and 
the sound were all lying in heaps together. The Eussians 
came out of the embrasures, plied them with stones, grapeshot, 
and the bayonet, but were soon forced to retire by the fire of 
our batteries and riflemen, and under cover of this fire many 
of our men escaped to the approaches. In some instances the 
enemy persisted in remaining outside in order to plunder the 
bodies of those who were lying on the slope of the parapet, and 
paid the penalty of their rashness in being stretched beside 
their foes; but others came forth on a holier errand, and actu¬ 
ally brought water to our wounded. 

General Pelissier observed the failure of our attack from the 
rear of the MalakofF, and sent over to General Simpson to ask 
if he intended to make another attack. The English Com- 
mander-in-Chief replied that he did not then feel in a condition 
to do so. All this time the Guards and Highlanders, the third 
and fourth divisions, and most of the reserves, were untouched. 
They could, indeed, have furnished ample materials for another 
assault; but the subsequent movements of the Eussians render 
it extremely doubtful whether the glory of carrying the Eedan, 
and of redeeming the credit of our arms would not have been 
dearly purchased by the effusion of more valuable blood. As 
soon as we abandoned the assault, the firing almost ceased along 
our front, but in the rear of the Malakoff there was a fierce 
contest going on between masses of Eussians, now released from 
the Eedan, or drawn from the town, and the French, inside the 
work; and the fight for the Little Eedan, on the proper left of 
the Malakoff, was raging furiously. Clouds of smoke and 
dust covered the scene, but the rattle of musketry was inces¬ 
sant, and betokened the severe nature of the struggle below. 
Through the breaks in the smoke there could be seen now and 


138 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


then a tricolor, surmounted by an eagle, fluttering bravely over 
the inner parapet of the Malakoff. The storm of battle rolled 
fiercely round it, and beat against it; but it was sustained by 
strong arms and stout hearts, and all the assaults of the enemy 
were directed in vain against it. We could see, too, our noble 
allies swarming over into the Malakoff from their splendid ap¬ 
proaches to it from the Mamelon, or rushing with swiit steps 
towards the right, where the Russians, continually reinforced, 
sought in vain to beat back their foes and to regain the key of 
their position. 

Our attack lasted about an hour and three-quarters, as well 
as I could make out, and in that time we lost more men than 
at Inkermann, where the fighting lasted for seven hours. At 
1.48 P.M., which was about the time we retired, there was an 
explosion either of a tumbril or of a fougasse between the Mame¬ 
lon and the Malakoff, to the right, which seemed to blow up 
several Frenchmen, and soon afterwards the artillery of the 
Imperial Guard swept across from the rear towards the Little 
Redan, and gave us an indication that our allies had gained a 
position from which they could operate against the enemy with 
their field-pieces. From the opening of the attack the French 
batteries over Careening Bay had not ceased to thunder against 
the Russian fleet, which lay silently at anchor below, and there 
was a lively cannonade between them and the Inkermann bat¬ 
teries till the evening, which was interrupted now and then by 
the intervention of the Redout Victoria, the English Redoubt, 
and the late Selinghinsk and Volhynia Redoubts, which en¬ 
gaged the Russian batteries over the last end of the harbor. 
At one o’clock wounded men began to crawl up from the bat¬ 
teries to the camp; they could tell us little or nothing. “ Were 
we in the Redan ?” “ Oh! yes; but a lot of them was killed, 

and the Russians were mighty strong.” Some were cheery, 
others desponding; all seemed proud of their wounds. Half 
an hour more, and the number of wounded increased; they 
came up by twos and threes, and what I had observed before 
as a bad sign—the number of stragglers accompanying them, 
under the pretense of rendering assistance, became greater 
also. Then the ambulances and the cacolets (for mule litters) 
came in sight along the Woronzoff road, filled with wounded. 
Every ten minutes added to their numbers, and we could see 
that every effort was made to hurry them down to the front as 
soon as they were ready for a fresh load. The litter-bearers 
now added to the length of the melancholy train. The tempo¬ 
rary hospitals in front were full, and the surgeons were begin¬ 
ning to get anxious about accommodation for the wounded. 
It may here be observed, that on the occasion of the 18 th 


THE DAY OF THE ASSAULT — THE REDAN. 


189 


of J une, some of these temporary hospitals, which are intended 
to afford immediate aid in cases requiring operations on the 
spot, were under fire, and a shell burst in the very tent in 
which Dr. Paynter and his assistants were operating, the 
ground around it being continually torn up by round shot. 
On this occasion more care was taken in determining the sites 
of the tents. Another bad sign was, that the enemy never 
ceased throwing up shell to the front, many of which burst 
high in the air over our heads, while the pieces flew with a 
most unpleasant whir around us. These shells were intended 
for our reserves; and, although the fuses did not burn long 
enough for such a range, and they all burst at a considerable 
elevation, they caused some little injury and annoyance to the 
troops in the rear, and hit some of our men. 

The old soldiers behaved admirably, and stood by their offi¬ 
cers to the last; nor was there any lack of courage among the 
young lads just joined, but they were wanting in discipline, 
and in confidence in their officers. No one can doubt that the 
assault by the third and fourth divisions would have been quite 
successful had it been necessary. General Simpson remained 
in the Greenhill Battery till six o’clock, at which hour General 
Pelissier send- to inform him that the Malakoff was quite safe, 
and to ask him what the English intended to do with respect to 
the Redan. General Simpson had by this time arrived at the 
determination of attacking it the following morning at five 
o’clock, with the third and fourth divisions. 

This Redan has cost us more lives than the capture of Bada- 
joz, not to speak of those who have fallen in the trenches and 
approaches to it; and, although the enemy evacuated it, we 
can scarcely claim the credit of having caused them such loss 
that they retired owing to their dread of a renewed assault. 
On the contrary, we must, in fairness, admit that the Russians 
maintained their grip of the place till the French were fairly 
established in the Malakoff, and the key of the position was 
torn from their grasp. They might, indeed, have remained in 
the place longer than they did, as the French were scarcely in 
a condition to molest them from the Malakoff with artillery, 
and could not be permitted to interfere with our attack had 
they been able to send reinforcements to us; but the Russian 
general is a man of too much genius and experience as a soldier 
to lose men in defending an untenable position, and his retreat 
was effected with masterly skill and with perfect ease in the face 
of a victorious enemy. Covering his rear by the flames of the 
burning city, and by tremendous explosions, which spoke in 
tones of portentous warning to those who might have wished 
to cut off his retreat, he led his battalions in narrow files across 


HO 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


a deep arm of the sea, commanded by our guns and in the face 
of a most powerful fleet, paraded them in our sight as they 
crossed, and carried off all his most useful stores and munitions 
of war. He left us few trophies and many bitter memories. 
He sank his ships and blew up his forts without molestation, 
save some paltry efforts to break down the bridge by cannon 
shot, or to shell the troops as they marched over. His steam¬ 
ers towed his boats across at their leisure; and when every 
man was across, and not till then, the Eussians began to dislo¬ 
cate and float off the portions of their bridge and to pull it 
over to the north side. 


THE STOEMING OF THE MALAKOFF. 

MARSHAL PELISSIER’S DISPATCHES. 

Head-Quarters at Sebastopol, Sept. 11.—Me le Mare- 
chal: I shall have the honor to send you by the next courier a 
detailed report on the attack which has placed Sebastopol in 
our power. To-day I can only give you a rapid sketch of the 
principal achievements of this great event of the war. 

Since the 16th of August, the day of the battle of the 
Tchernaya, and notwithstanding repeated warnings of a new 
and more formidable attack by the enemy against the positions 
which we occupy on this river, every preparation was made to 
deliver a decisive assault against Sebastopol itself. The artil 
ry of the right attack commenced on the 17th August a well- 
sustained fire against the Malakoff, the Little Eedan, the neigh¬ 
boring defenses, and the roads, in order to permit our engineers 
to establish defenses close to the place, from which the troops 
might be able instantly to throw themselves upon the enceinte. 
Our engineers Desides prepared materials for escalade, and on 
the 5th of September all our batteries of the left opened a 
very violent fire against the town. The English on their side 
kept up a hot cannonade against the Great Eedan and its re¬ 
doubt, which they were to attack. 

All being ready, I resolved, in concert with General Simpson, 
to give the assault on the 8th of September, at the hour of noon. 

General M^Iahon’s division was to carry the works of the 
Malakoff; General Dulac’s division was to attack the Little 
Eedan; and in the centre the division of General La Motterouge 
was to march against the curtain connecting these two extreme 
points. Besides these troops, I had given to General Bosquet 
General Mellinet’s division of the Guards, to support the first 
three divisions. Thus far for the right. 


THE STORMING OF THE MALAKOFF. 


141 


In the centre the English were to attack the Great Redan, 
escalading it at its salient. 

On the left the 1st corps, to which General de la Marmora 
had wished to join a Sardinian brigade, having at its head Gen¬ 
eral Levaillant’s division, was to penetrate into the interior of 
the town by the Central Bastion, and afterwards turn the Flag¬ 
staff Bastion in order to establish a lodgment there likewise. 

General de Salles had instructions not to pursue his attack 
further than circumstances might render it advisable. 

Further, the fleets of Admirals Lyons and Bruat were to 
operate a powerful diversion by firing against the Quarantine, 
the Roadstead, and the sea-front of the fortress; but the state 
of the sea, agitated by a violent north-west wind, was such that 
neither the line-of-battle ships nor the frigates were able to quit 
their anchorage. The English and French mortar-boats, how¬ 
ever, were able to go into action. Their fire was of remarkable 
excellence, and they rendered us great assistance. At noon 
exactly, the divisions of Generals M‘Mahon, La Motterouge, and 
Dulac, electrified by their chiefs, sprang to the Malakoff, the 
Curtain, and the Little Redan of the Careenage. After unex¬ 
ampled difficulties, and a most exciting foot-to-foot combat, 
General M‘Mahon’s division succeeded in effecting a lodgment 
in the anterior part of the Malakoff. The enemy showered 
down a storm of projectiles of all kinds upon our brave troops. 
The Redan of the Careenage, especially battered by the maison 
en croix and the steamers, it was necessary to evacuate after its 
occupation; but the division of General La Motterouge made 
its ground good on one part of the Curtain, and that of Gene¬ 
ral M‘Mahon gained ground in the Malakoff, where General 
Bosquet sent continually the reserves which I sent forward to 
him. The other attacks were subordinated to that of the Mala- 
kofif, that being the capital point of the defenses of the whole 
place. 

Standing in the Brancion Redoubt (on the Mamelon) I con¬ 
sidered that the Malakoff was safely in our power, and I gave 
the signal which had been agreed upon with General Simpson. 

The English immediately advanced bravely against the salient 
of the Great Redan. They were able to effect a lodgment in it, 
and struggled a considerable time to maintain their position, 
but, crushed by the Russian reserves, which advanced inces¬ 
santly, and by a violent fif^ of artillery, they were forced to 
return into their parallel. 

At the same moment General de Salles had directed an 
attack against the Central Bastion. The Levaillant Division 
had begun to establish itself in it, as well as in the right Lu¬ 
nette ; a tremendous fire of grape was succeeded by the arrival 


142 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


of Russian reinforcements so considerable in number that our 
troops, already decimated by the fire of the enemy, and whose 
chiefs had been disabled, were compelled to fall back on the 
place whence they had sallied. 

Convinced that the taking of the Malakoff would be decisive 
of success, I prevented the renewal of any attacks on other 
points, which, by compelling the hostile army to remain on all 
its points, had already attained their main object. I then 
directed my sole attention to the retaining possession of the 
Malakoff, which General M‘Mahon had been previously enabled 
completely to obtain. Besides, a great and critical moment 
was impending. 

General Bosquet had just been struck by the bursting of a 
shell, and his command I gave to General Dulac. A powder 
magazine near the Malakoff exploded at this moment, from 
which contingency I anticipated the most serious results. 

The Russians, hoping to profit by this accident, immediately 
advanced in dense masses, and, disposed in three columns, 
simultaneously attacked the centre, the left, and the right of 
the Malakoff. But measures of defense had already been taken 
in the interior of the fortress; for which purpose General 
M‘Mahon opposed to the enemy bodies of undaunted troops, 
whom nothing could intimidate; and after the most desperate 
efforts the Russians were compelled to make a precipitate 
retreat. From that moment the discomfited enemy appears to 
have renounced all idea of further attack. The Malakoff was 
ours, and no effort of the enemy could wrest it from us. It 
was half-past four o’clock. 

Measures were immediately taken for enabling us to repulse 
the enemy, in case he should attempt against us a nocturnal 
attack. But we were soon released from our uncertainty. As 
soon as it became night, fires burst forth on every side, mines 
exploded, magazines of gunpowder exploded in the air. The 
sight of Sebastopol in flames, which the whole army contem¬ 
plated, was one of the most awe-inspiring and sinister pictures 
that the history of wars can have presented. The enemy was 
making a complete evacuation; it was effected during the night 
by means of a bridge constructed between the two shores of 
the roadstead, and under cover of the successive explosions that 
prevented me from approaching and harassing him. On the 
morning of the 9th the whole southern side of the town was 
freed and in our power. 

Deign to accept, Monsieur le Marechal, the expression of my 
respectful devotion.—The General in Chief Pelissier. 


THE STORMING OF THE MALAKOFF. 


143 


Head-Quarters, Sebastopol, Sept. 14. 

M. le Marechal : 1 have the honor to address to your Ex¬ 
cellency, as I promised in my dispatch of the 11th, my report 
on the taking of Sebastopol by assault. 

The moment of this assault seemed to have arrived. On the 
left our engineers had some time before carried their works 
within from 30 to 40 metres of the Flagstaff and Central Bas¬ 
tions. On the right, our approaches, pushed forward very act¬ 
ively under the protection of the sustained artillery fire which 
had been opened since the 17th, were only 25 metres distant 
from the salient of the Malakoff and the Lesser Bedan. The 
artillery had finished nearly 100 batteries, which were in a per¬ 
fect state, completely provisioned, and having in all 350 can¬ 
nons in our left attacks and 250 in our right. The English on 
eithir side, although stopped by difficulties of the ground, had 
rarived at about two hundred metres from the Great Bedan. 
and they had about 200 guns in their batteries. The Bussians, 
improving the time, raised on the Malakoff side a second en - 
ceinte , which it was important not to allow them to finish. 
Finally, the army of relief had just been completely defeated 
on the 16th, on the Tchernaya. There it had experienced con¬ 
siderable losses, and it was not probable that it would return to 
relieve the place, and attack our positions, which we had ren¬ 
dered stronger, and in which we were prepared to repulse all 
the efforts of the enemy. 

It was then agreed between General Simpson and myself that 
we should deliver a decisive attack. The generals command¬ 
ing the artillery and engineers of both armies were unanimously 
of opinion that this should be our next measure. The 8th of 
September was the day fixed for the purpose. 

As I have already had the honor to point out to your Excel¬ 
lency, the proper eourse was to attack the enemy in the princi¬ 
pal points of his vast enceinte , so that he might not be able to 
direct all his reserves against one single attack; and to make 
him uneasy respecting the town, from which the bridge started 
whereby he was to retreat. On the left, General de Salles, with 
the 1st corps, reinforced by a Sardinian brigade, the assistance 
of whieh had been offered to me by General de la Marmora, 
was to attack the town. In the centre the English were to 
seize the Great Bedan; and, lastly, on our right, General Bos¬ 
quet, was to attack the Malakoff and the Little Bedan, the 
salient points of the enceinte of Karabelnaia. 

The following arrangements had been made for each of these 
attacks. On the left, General Levaillant’s division, (2d of the 
1st corps, Brigade Couston; 9th Battalion of the Chasseurs 
a pied, Commander Bogie; 21st of the line, Lieut.-Colonel Yil- 


1 44 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


leret; 42d of the line, Lieut.-Colonel de Mallet. Brigade Tro- 
chu: 46th of the line, Lieut.-Colonel Le Banneur ; 80th of the 
line, Colonel Laterrade,) which was charged with the duty of 
attacking the Central Bastion and its lunettes, was placed in 
the most advanced parallels. On its right was the division of 
General d’Autemarre (Brigade Niol: 5th Battalion of Chas 
seurs a pied, Commander Gamier; 19th of the line, Colonel 
Guinard; 26th of the line, Colonel de Sorbiers. Brigade Bre¬ 
ton : 89th of the line, Colonel Comignan; 74th of the line 
Colonel Guyot de Lespart,) which was to penetrate in the trad 
of Levaillant’s Division, and seize the gorge of the Flagstaff 
Bastion, and the batteries which had been raised there. The 
Sardinian Brigade of General Cialdini, stationed at the side of 
General d’Autemarre’s Division, was to attack the right flank 
of the same bastion. Finally, General Bouat’s Division (4th of 
the 1st Corps, General Lefevre; 10th Chasseurs a pied, Com¬ 
mander Guiomard; 18th of the line, Colonel Dantin; 79th of 
the line, Colonel Grenier. 2d Brigade: General Roquette; 
14th of the line, Colonel de Negrier; 43d of the line, Colonel 
Broutta,) and General Pate’s Division (3d of the 1st Corps, Gen¬ 
eral Beuret’s Brigade: 6th. Battalion of Chasseurs a pied, Com¬ 
mander Fermier de la Prevotais; 28th of the line, Col. Larti¬ 
gues; 98th of the line, Col. Conseil-Dumesnil. General Ba- 
zaine’s Brigade: 1st regiment of the Foreign Legion, Lieut.-Col. 
Marteriot de Cordoue; 2d Regiment of the Foreign Legion, 
Col. de Chabrieres) formed the reserve of Levaillant’s division. 
Besides these, and in order to be prepared on this side for any 
eventualities which might arise, I had ordered the 30th and 
35th regiments of the line from Kamiesch, and placed them 
under the orders of General de Salles, who had posted them on 
the extreme left; thus strongly securing the possession of our 
lines on this side. Before Karabelnaia, as I have already said, 
our attack was to be made in three directions—at the left on 
the Malakoff and its redoubt; at the right, on the Lesser Re¬ 
dan ; and in the centre on the curtain which unites these two 
works. Evidently the Malakoff system of works was the most 
important point. Its capture must necessarily entail the ruin 
of the defenses of the place in succession, and I had added to 
the troops of General Bosquet all the infantry of the Imperial 
Guard. 

The left attack on the Malakoff was confided to General 
M‘Mahon, (1st Division of the 2d Corps,) 1st Brigade, Col. De 
caen; 1st Zouaves, Colonel Colineau; and 7th of the line, Col. 
Decaen; 2d Brigade, Gen. Yinoy; 1st Battalion of Chasseurs a 
pied, Commandant Gambier; 20th of- the line, Colonel Ori- 
anne; 27th of the line, Colonel Adam, who had in reserve the 


THE STORMING OF THE MALAKOFF. 


145 


brigade Wimpfeen; 3d of Zouaves, Colonel Polhes; 50th of 
the line, Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolas; and the Tirailleurs Alge- 
riens, Colonel Rose, detached from Camou’s Division, and the 
two battalions of the Zouaves of the Guard, under Colonel 
J aninn. 

The attack on the right of the Redan was confided to Gen¬ 
eral Dulac, (Brigade Saint Pol;) 17th Chasseurs 4 pied, com¬ 
mandant de Ferrussac; 57th of the line, Colonel Dupuis; 85th, 
Colonel Javel; 2d Brigade, General Bisson; 10th of the line, 
Commandant de Lacontrie; 61st of the line, Colonel de Taxis, 
having in reserve the Brigade Marolles; 15th of the line, Col. 
Guerin; 96th of the line, Colonel Malherbe, of the Division 
d’Aurelles, and the Battalion of Chasseurs a pied of Gard, 
Commandant Cornulier de Lucinieere. Finally General de 
Motterouge (Brigade du General Bourbeki. 4th Chasseurs 4 
pied, Commandant Clinchant; 86th of the line, Colonel de Ber- 
thier; 100th of the line, Col. Mathieu; 2d Brigade, Colonel 
Picard; 91st of the line, Colonel Picard; 94th of the line, Col. 
Kergdern) commanded the attack in the centre at the Curtain, 
having in reserve the Yoltigeurs, Colonel Montera et Douay, 
and the Grenadiers of the Guard, Colonels Blanchard and Dal¬ 
ton, under the direct orders of General Millinet, having under 
him Brigadier : Generals Ponte ves and De Failly. 

With reference to the situation of these troops, our trenches 
have been divided into three portions, each of which was to 
contain in its advanced part nearly the whole of the attacking 
division; and the reserves were to be placed some in the old 
trenches, which were well adapted to hold them, and others in 
the Karabelnaia and Careenage ravines. 

It was of the first importance, in order to deceive the enemy, 
that the assembling of all these troops should take place with¬ 
out observation, and for this purpose all the lines of communi¬ 
cation leading to our advanced places d’armes had been examined 
with great care, and wherever they permitted the enemy to see 
our men, the protecting crests were raised so as to give suffi¬ 
cient covering. 

At the left attacks, as well as at those of the right, detach¬ 
ments of engineers and of artillery, furnished with tools, had 
been appointed to proceed at the head of each column of at¬ 
tack. The Sappers were to be ready with the auxiliaries of the 
advanced guard of each attack, to throw bridges, in the use of 
which they had been exercised, and the materials for which 
had been placed forward in the first line. The gunners were 
to be furnished with hammers, and all kinds of tools proper to 
spike or unspike guns as the case might be, and to turn against 
the enemy those which should be conquered. Moreover, in 

10 


146 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


the first battalions of each attack, a certain number of men 
were to be furnished with handy tools, such as they could carry 
in their waist-belts, and fit to open passages, fill up ditches, to 
turn traverses, and, in a word, to accomplish those important 
works which require to be executed on the instant. 

Moreover, reserves of field artillery had been prepared, so as 
to be able to come up rapidly and take part in the action. At 
the left attacks a field battery was to be placed in a quarry, 
near the enceinte , with its horses attached. Two other batteries, 
of the First Division, were to be held ready at the Cloeheton. 
Finally, a fourth battery was to be in waiting at the left extre¬ 
mity of the Lazaret. 

At the right attack a reserve of 24 field guns was to be 
placed, 12 in the old Lancaster battery and 12 in the Victoria 
redoubt. Working parties were posted in points indicated, 
ready at the opportune moment to prepare the way for the 
artillery. 

In order to be ready for every event, the 1st Division of 
Aurelle’s Brigade was posted so as to be able, with the aid of 
the batteries and redoubts existing in that direction, to repulse 
any attempt which the enemy might make on the counterforts 
of Inkermann. 

On the side of our lines General Herbillon had orders to 
occupy the positions of the Tcliernaya with his infantry, cav¬ 
alry, and artillery, to act at a moment’s notice. I had besides 
ordered General Forton’s Brigade of Cuirassiers to be near him. 
General de la Marmora had been previously informed of these 
arrangements. 

General d’Alonville had orders to retire in the night of the 
7th from the valley of Baidar, and take a position of concen¬ 
tration, near the bridge of Kreutzen, which would be advan¬ 
tageous in case of any attempt made by the army of relief. 

General Simpson and I had by common consent fixed the 
hour of attack at 12 o’clock. The hour chosen was in many 
respects advantageous. It gave us a better chance of suddenly 
surprising the enemy, and in case the Russian army of relief 
had been inclined to make a desperate attempt to succor the 
place, it would have been impossible for it to make a vigorous 
movement against our lines before the end of the day. In any 
case, whatever the result of the attack, we should have until 
the morning to advise upon it. 

On the morning of the 8th the artillery of our left attacks, 
which from daybreak on the 5th had kept up violent fire, con¬ 
tinued to crush the enemy with its projectiles. At the right 
attack our batteries also fired rapidly, but kept up the system 


THE STORMING- OF THE MALAKOFF 147 

which they had adopted several days before, in expectation of 
that which might take place. 

Towards eight o’clock the engineers .threw upon the Central 
Bastion two mines of projection, each charged with a hundred 
kilogrammes of powder, and at the same time they exploded 
before our approaches on the front of the Malakoff three min¬ 
ing chambers charged in all with 1500 kilogrammes of powder, 
in order to destroy the lower galleries of the Russian miners. 

As the possession of the Malakoff works must decide the 
day, the other attacks were subordinated to it, and it was 
agreed with General Simpson that the English should not at¬ 
tack the Great Redan until I should have given a signal that 
we were sure of the Malakoff. In the same way General de 
Salles was not to attack with his troops until a moment which 
I was to indicate to him by another signal. 

A little before noon all the troops were in readiness, and in 
perfect order on the points indicated, and the other arrange¬ 
ments had been punctually executed. General de Salles was 
ready • General Bosquet was at the fighting-post which he had 
chosen in the 6th parallel; and I, with Generals Thiry of the 
Artillery, Niel of the Engineers, and Martimprey, the chief of 
my staff, was at the Brancion redoubt, which I had chosen for 
my head-quarters. 

All our watches had been regulated. At noon precisely all 
our batteries ceased to thunder, in order that they might be 
adjusted to a longer range, so as to reach the reserves of the 
enemy. At the word of their chiefs, the divisions of Generals 
M‘Mahon, Dulae, and De la Motterouge, left the trenches. The 
drums and the clarions beat and sounded the charge, and to 
the cry of “Vive l’Empereur!” a thousand times repeated 
along the whole line, our intrepid soldiers precipitated them¬ 
selves upon the enemy’s defenses. It was a solemn moment. 
The first brigade of M‘Mahon’s division, the 1st regiment of 
Zouaves leading, followed by the 7th of the line, and having the 
4th Chasseurs a pied on its left, sprang to the left face and the 
salient of the Malakoff work. The breadth and depth of the 
ditch, the height and steepness of the slope, rendered the ascent 
extremely difficult to our men; but finally they gained the 
parapet, manned with Russians, who, in default of muskets, 
picked up whatever eame to hand—mattocks, stones, or ram¬ 
mers—and used them as weapons. Then took place a hand-to- 
hand struggle—one of those exciting combats in which nothing 
but the intrepidity of our soldiers and their chiefs can give 
them the victory. They immediately sprang into the work; 
they drove back the Russians who continued to resist, and, in 



348 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


a few seconds afterwards, the flag of France was finally planted 
on the Malakoff. 

At the right and centre, with that same impetuous dash 
which had overthrown so many obstacles and forced the enemy 
to fly, the divisions Dulac and De la Motterouge, led by their 
chiefs, had seized the Little Eedan at the Careening Bay, and 
also the Curtain, forcing their way even as far as the second 
enceinte that was being constructed. Everywhere we were in 
possession of the works attacked. But this first and brilliant 
success had near cost us very dear. Struck by a large splinter 
from a bomb on his right side, General Bosquet was compelled 
to quit the field of battle. I confided the command to General 
Dulac, who was admirably seconded by General de Liniers, 
chief of the staff of the 2d corps. 

The engineers who accompanied the storming columns were 
already at work; they filled up the ditches, opened passages, 
and threw across bridges. The second brigade of General de 
M‘Mahon advanced rapidly to reinforce the troops in the Mala¬ 
koff. I gave the signal agreed upon with General Simpson for 
the attack on the Great Redan, and shortly after for the attack 
on the town. 

The English had 200 metres to cross under a terrible fire of 
grape. This space was soon strewed with dead ; nevertheless, 
this did not stop the march of the storming column, which ad¬ 
vanced towards the capital of the work. It descended into the 
ditch, which is nearly five metres deep, and, despite all the 
efforts of the Russians, it scaled the escarpe, and carried the 
salient of the Redan. There, after the first brunt of the en¬ 
gagement, which cost the Russians dear, the English soldiers 
found in front of them only a vast open space, crossed by the 
balls of the enemy, who kept himself close behind some distant 
traverses. Those who came up hardly replaced those who had 
been disabled. It was not until they had sustained for nearly 
two hours this unequal contest that the English decided on 
evacuating the Redan. They did so with so firm an aspect 
that the enemy did not dare follow. 

In the mean time, on the left, at the appointed signal, the 
columns of Levaillant’s division, commanded by Generals 
Couston and Trochu, dashed headlong against the left flank of 
the Central Bastion and the left lunette. In spite of a shower 
of balls and projectiles, and after a very sharp contest, the spirit 
and vigor of these brave troops triumphed at first over the 
enemy’s resistance, and, notwithstanding the accumulated diffi¬ 
culties in their front, they forced their way into the two works. 
But the enemy, having fallen back on his successive traverses, 


THE STORMING OF THE MALAKOFF. 


149 


kept his ground everywhere. A murderous fire of musketry 
was opened from every ridge. Guns unmasked for the first 
time, and field-pieces, brought up to several points, vomited 
grape and decimated our men. Generals Couston and Trochu, 
who had just been wounded, were obliged to give up their 
command. Generals Rivet and Breton were killed; several 
mine-chambers, fired by the enemy, produced a moment of 
hesitation. At length an attack in their turn by numerous 
Russian columns compelled our troops to abandon the works 
they had carried, and to retire into our advanced places d'armes. 

Our batteries on this part of the attacks, skillfully conducted 
by General Lebceuf, aided so devotedly and intelligently, as on 
ail occasions, by Rear-Admiral Rigault de Genouilly, changed 
the direction of their fire while increasing its intensity, and 
compelled the enemy to take shelter behind the parapets. Gen¬ 
eral de Salles, causing d’Autemarre’s division to advance, was 

E reparing during this time a second and formidable attack; 

ut as we had secured the possession of the Malakoff, I sent 
word to him not to let it advance. 

Our possession of this work, however, was energetically dis¬ 
puted. 

By means of the batteries from the maison en croix , of the 
guns of his steamers, of field guns brought to favorable points, 
and of the batteries on the north side of the roadstead, the 
enemy deluged us with grape, and with projectiles of every 
kind, and committed great ravages in our ranks. The powder 
magazine of the Russian Postern Battery had just exploded, 
thereby increasing our loss, and causing the eagle of the 91st to 
disappear for a moment. A great many superior officers and 
others were either wounded or killed. The Generals de Saint 
Pol and de Marolles died gloriously, and Generals Mellinet, de 
Pont&ves, and Bourbaki, had been wounded at the head of their 
troops. Three times the division of Dulac and Be la Motterouge 
seized the Redan and the Curtain, and three times they were 
obliged to fall back before a terrible fire of artillery and the 
depse masses arrayed in front of them. Neverthless the two 
field batteries of reserve from the Lancaster battery descended 
at a trot, crossed the trenches, and boldly stationed themselves 
within half-range. They succeeded in driving away the enemy’s 
columns and the steamers. A part of these two divisions, sup¬ 
ported in this heroic struggle by the troops of the Guard, who 
on this day covered themselves with glory, made good their 
footing in the entire left of the Curtain, from which the enemy 
could not drive them. During the renewed combats of the 
right and the centre, the Russians redoubled their efforts to re¬ 
conquer the Malakoff. This work, which is a sort of earthen 


150 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


Gitadel of 350 metres in length and 150 metres in width, armed 
with 62 guns of different calibre, crowns a mamelon which 
commands the whole interior of the Karabelnaia quarter, takes 
in reverse the Redan which was attacked by the English, is 
only 1200 metres from the south harbor, and threatens not 
merely the only anchorage now remaining for the ships, but 
the only means of retreat open to the Russians, namely, the 
bridge thrown across the roadstead from one bank to the other. 

Thus during the first hours of the strife of the two armies, 
the Russians constantly renewed their attempts; but General 
M‘Mahon, in resisting these incessant attacks, was assisted suc¬ 
cessively by Yinoy’s brigade of his division, by the Zouaves of 
the Guard, General Wimpffen’s reserve, and a part of the Yol- 
tigeurs of the Guard; in all directions he resisted the enemy, 
who were everywhere repulsed. The Russians, however, made 
a last and desperate attempt. Formed in deep column, they 
thrice assailed the breast of the work, and thrice they were com¬ 
pelled to retire with enormous loss before the solidity of our 
troops. 

After this last struggle, which ended about five in the even¬ 
ing, the enemy appeared resolved to abandon the spot, and only 
his batteries continued until night to send us some projectiles, 
which no longer did us much harm. 

The detachments of the engineers and artillery, who during 
the combat were gallantly fighting or actively engaged in their 
special work, quickly set about carrying out the works that 
were pressing in the interior of the fort under the direction of 
their officers. 

According to my orders, Generals Thiry and Niel instructed 
Generals Beuret and Frossard, commanding the artillery and 
engineers of the 2d corps, to take all necessary steps for estab¬ 
lishing ourselves firmly in the Malakoff, and on that part of 
the curtain which was in our power, so that we might, in case 
of need, resist a night attack of the enemy, and be in a position 
to drive him the next day from the Little Redan of the Careen¬ 
ing Bay, the Maison en Croix, and all this portion of his de¬ 
fenses. 

These arrangements became, however, unnecessary. The 
enemy, hopeless of retaking the Malakoff, took an important 
resolution—he evacuated the town. 

Towards the close of the day I had a suspicion of this, for I 
had seen long lines of troops and baggage defile along the 
bridge and reach the north bank, and the conflagrations which 
arose in every direction soon removed all doubt. I should have 
liked to push forward, gain the bridge, and cut off the enemy’s 
retreat; but the besieged was at every moment blowing up one 


THE STORMING OF THE MALAKOFF. 


151 


or other of his defenses, his powder magazines, and his estate 
lishments. These explosions would have destroyed us in de¬ 
tail, and so they rendered the idea impracticable. We remained 
in position until the day should arise upon this scene of deso¬ 
lation. 

The sun in rising lighted up this work of destruction, which 
was very much greater than we had been able to imagine. The 
last Russian vessels anchored the evening before in the road¬ 
stead were sunken; the bridge was disconnected; the enemy 
had only reserved his steamers, which carried off the last fugi¬ 
tives and some infatuated Russians who were still walking 
amongst the fires in this unhappy city. But presently these 
men, as well as the steamers, were driven to seek refuge in the 
indentations of the bank north of the roadstead. 

Thus terminated this memorable siege, during which the 
army of relief has been twice defeated in order of battle, and 
the offensive and defensive means of which have attained to 
colossal proportions. The besieging army had, at its various 
attacks, 800 guns in battery, which have fired more than 
1,600,000 times; and our approaches, excavated in the course 
of 336 days, in rocky ground, and presenting an extent of 
more than 80 kilometres (20 leagues), have been executed 
under the constant fire of the place, and disturbed by inces¬ 
sant combats day and night. 

The day of September 8, on which the allied armies proved 
themselves superior to an army almost equal in number, not 
invested, entrenched behind formidable defenses, provided with 
more than 1100 guns, protected by the guns of the fleet, and of 
the batteries north of the roadstead, and still disposing of im¬ 
mense resources, will remain an example of what may be ex¬ 
pected from an army, brave, disciplined, and inured to war. 

Our losses on this day were five generals killed, four 
wounded, and six contused; 24 superior officers killed, 20 
wounded, and two missing; 116 subaltern officers killed, 224 
wounded, eight missing; 1489 sous-officers and soldiers killed, 
4259 wounded, and 1400 missing—total 7551. 

As you see, Monsieur le Marechal, these losses are numerous; 
many of them are deeply to be regretted, but yet they are less 
than I had reason to fear. 

Every one, Monsieur le Marshal, from the general to the 
soldier, has gloriously done his duty, and the army, of which 
the Emperor may be proud, has deserved well of the country. 
I shall have many rewards to claim, and many names to make 
known to your excellency. That will be a task that would be 
out of place here. 

It had been arranged that the fleets of Admirals Lyons and 


152 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


Bruat should come and bring their broadsides to bear at the en¬ 
trance of the Sebastopol roadstead, so as to effect a powerful 
diversion. But it blew a heavy gale from the northeast, which, 
while it annoyed us very much on land, rendered the sea ex¬ 
ceedingly rough, and prevented the ships from leaving their 
moorings. The English and French bomb-ketches were, never¬ 
theless, able to act, and they fired most successfully into the 
roadstead, the town, and the various maritime forts. As at all 
times, the sailors who had landed and the ship-gunners, were the 
worthy rivals of the land artillery, and distinguished them¬ 
selves by the vigor and precision of their fire. 

The English army conducted itself with its habitual intrepid¬ 
ity. It prepared a second attack, which, doubtless, would have 
triumphed over the unexpected obstacles which had met their 
first; but the possession of the Malakoff properly led to the 
countermanding of this second attack. 

The Sardinian brigade of General Cialdini, which General de 
la Marmora had placed at my disposition to reinforce the first 
corps, bore the terrible fire which cut up our trenches with the 
firmness of veteran troops. The Piedmontese burned with de¬ 
sire to come to blows with the enemy ; but the attack on the 
Flagstaff Bastion having been postponed, it was impossible to 
satisfy the ardor of these brave troops. As at all times, our 
wounded, and even those of the enemy, have been the objects 
of most zealous, intelligent, and complete care. We owe to 
the good organization of all our hospital services, and to the 
devoted ness of those to whom they are committed, the satisfac¬ 
tion of being able to save a great number of the wounded. 

Accept, etc., Pelissier. 

PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF’s ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTURE OF 
SEBASTOPOL. 

Head-quarters, Heights of Inkermann, in the vicinity of Sebas 

topol, August 20, (Sept. 12,) 

Taking advantage of the superiority of their fire at short 
range, the enemy, after the concentrated action of their artil¬ 
lery during thirty days—which cost our garrison trom 500 to 
1000 men per day—commenced that terrible bombardment 
(bombardement d'en/er) from their innumerable engines of war, 
and of a calibre hitherto unknown, which destroyed our de¬ 
fenses, which had been repaired at night with great labor 
and at great loss, under the incessant fire of the enemy—the 
principal work, the Korniloff Redoubt, on the Malakoff Hill 
(the key of Sebastopol, as a point dominating the whole town) 
having experienced considerable and irreparable damage. 



X 


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i 












THE STORMING OF THE MALAKOFF. 


153 


To continue, under these circumstances, the defense of the 
south side, would have been to expose our troops, daily, to 
useless butchery; and their preservation is, to*day, more than 
ever necessary to the Emperor of Russia. 

For these reasons, with sorrow in my heart, but with a full 
conviction, I resolved to evacuate Sebastopol, and take over 
the troops to the north side by the bridge constructed before¬ 
hand over the bay, and by boats. 

Meantime, the enemy, beholding, on the 27th of August, (8th 
of Sept.,) at 10.30, the half-ruined works before them and the 
Korniloff redoubt, with its ditches filled up, resolved upon a 
desperate assault, first on Bastions No. 2 (Korniloff) and No. 
3 (Redan) and, after three hours, upon Bastion No. 5, and the 
Belkin Schwartz redoubts. 

Of these six attacks, five were gloriously repulsed. Some of 
the points of attack, like that on Bastion No. 2, on which the 
enemy had succeeded in bringing guns by flying bridges, having 
at various times been taken and retaken, remained finally ours. 
But the Korniloff redoubt, more damaged than the others by 
the bombardment, was taken by the French, who brought 
more than 30,000 men against it, and could not be retaken after 
the great losses we had suffered at the commencement of this 
combat; for it would have been necessary to ascend, in the 
midst of the ruins, a very steep incline, and then cross a narrow 
ridge above a deep ditch of the rear face occupied by the 
French. Such an undertaking might have prevented us 
achieving the proposed object, and would have cost us, with¬ 
out the slightest doubt, incalculable losses. 

The attempt was the more needless, as for reasons already 
mentioned I had resolved to evacuate the place. Therefore, as 
the success of the enemy was confined to the sole capture of the 
Korniloff redoubt, I ordered that no attack should be made on 
that redoubt, but to remain in front of it, to oppose any continu¬ 
ation of the enemy’s attack on the town itself, an order which 
Vas executed despite all the efforts of the French to get beyond 
the gorge of the redoubt. 

At dusk the troops were ordered to retire according to the 
arrangements previously made. 

The examples of bravery you gave during that day, valiant 
comrades, aroused such a feeling of esteem in the enemy, that 
despite the knowledge they must have had of our retreat by 
the" explosion of our mines, which our troops exploded one 
after the otner as they gradually retreated, they not only did 
not pursue us in columns, but even ceased firing with their 
artillery, which they might have continued with impunity. 

Valiant comrades, it is painful, it is hard to leave Sebastopol 


154 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


in the enemy’s hands. But remember the sacrifice we made 
upon the altar of our country in 1812. Moscow was surely as 
valuable as Sebastopol—we abandoned it after the immortal 
battle of Borodino. The defense of Sebastopol during 349 
days is superior to Borodino, and when the enemy entered 
Moscow in that great year of 1812, they only found heaps of 
stones and ashes. Likewise it is not Sebastopol which we have 
left to them, but the burning ruins of the town which we our¬ 
selves set fire to, having maintained the honor of the defense in 
such a manner that our great-grandchildren may recall the re¬ 
membrance thereof with pride to all posterity. 

Sebastopol kept us chained to its walls; with its fall we 
acquire freedom of movement, and a new war commences, a 
war in the open field, that most congenial to the Russian sol¬ 
dier. Let us prove to the Emperor, let us prove to Russia, 
that we are still imbued with the spirit which animated our 
ancestors in our memorable and patriotic struggle. Wherever 
the enemy may show himself we will present our breasts to 
him, and defend our native land as we defended it in 1812. 

Valiant warriors of the land and sea forces !—In the name of 
the Emperor I thank you for the unexampled courage, firm¬ 
ness, and constancy you have displayed during the siege of 
Sebastopol. 

[Here follow the names of the officers who most distinguished 
themselves.] 

In thus expressing the gratitude your worthy commanders 
are entitled to, who are still living, let us also honor, comrades, 
those who have fallen honorably for our faith and for our 
country on the ramparts of Sebastopol. 

Let us remember the immortal names of Nachimoff, Korniloff, 
and Istomine, and let us address prayers to the Most High that 
he will grant them peace, and eternalize their memory as an 
example to the future generations of the Russians. 


DESCRIPTION OF SEBASTOPOL AFTER ITS ABAN- 
DONMENT BY THE RUSSIANS. 

The wonder of all visitors to the ruins of Sebastopol is 
divided; they are astonished at the strength of the works, and 
that they were ever taken; they are amazed that men could 
have defended them so long with such ruin around them. 
These feelings are apparently in opposition to each other, but 
a glance at the place could explain the apparent contradiction. 
Their enormous bomb-proofs, large and numerous as they were, 


SEBASTOPOL AFTER ITS ABANDONMENT. 


155 


could not hold the requisite force to resist a general concerted 
attack made all along the line with rapidity, and without pre« 
vious warning. On the other hand, the strength of the works 
themselves is prodigious. But it is evident that the Bussian. 
has been enabled to sustain the most tremendous bombardment 
ever known, and an eleven months’ siege, that he was rendered 
capable of repulsing one general assault, and that a subsequent 
attack upon him at four points was only successful at one, 
which fortunately happened to be the key of his position; and 
the inference is, that his engineers were of consummate ability, 
and furnished him with artificial strength that made him equal 
to our best efforts. It is sufficient to say that of the three or 
four points attacked, the Little Redan and the Malakoff on the 
fight, and the Bastion Central and the reentering angle of the 
Flagstaff Work on the left, but one was carried, and that was 
a closed work. The Great Redan, the Little Redan, and the 
line of defense on the left, were not taken, although the attack 
was resolute, and the contest obstinate and bloody for both 
assailants and defenders. It is certain that the Russian knew 
his weakness, and was too good a strategist to defend a position 
of which we held the key. Sebastobol in flames, his ships sunk, 
told the story next morning, and some ten thousand French 
and English soldiers were its commentators. The tremendous 
explosions, which shook the very ground like so many earth¬ 
quakes, failed to disturb many of the wearied soldiers. 

All was ready on the part of the English for a renewed as¬ 
sault on the Redan, but the Russians having kept up a brisk 
fire from the rifle pits and embrasures to the last moment, and 
having adopted the same plan along their lines, abandoned it. 
as is supposed, about twelve o’clock, and the silence having 
attracted the attention of the Allies, some volunteers crept up 
and looked through an embrasure, and found the place de¬ 
serted by all save the dead and dying. Soon afterwards, wan¬ 
dering fires gleamed through the streets and outskirts of the 
town; point after point became alight; the flames shone out 
of the windows of the houses; rows of mansions caught and 
burned up, and, ere daybreak, the town of Sebastopol, that fine 
and stately mistress of the Euxine, was on fire from the sea to 
the Dockyard Creek. Fort Alexander was blown up with a 
stupendous crash that made the very earth reel, early in the 
night. At sunrise four large explosions on the left followed 
in quick succession, and announced the destruction of the 
Quarantine Forts and the magazines of the batteries of the 
Central Bastion and Flagstaff Fort. In a moment afterwards 
the proper left of the Redan was the scene of a very heavy 
explosion, which must have destroyed a number of wow*4*d 


156 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


men on both sides. Fortunately the soldiers who had entered 
it early in the night were withdrawn. The Flagstaff and Gar¬ 
den batteries blew up, one after another, at 4.45. At 5.80 
there were two of the largest and grandest explosions on the 
left that ever shook the earth—most probably from Fort Alex¬ 
ander and the Grand Magazine. The rush of black smoke, of 
gray and white vapor, of masses of stone, beams of timber, 
and masonry, into the air, was appalling, and then followed 
the roar of a great bombardment; it was a magazine of shells 
blown up into the air, and exploding like some gigantic pyro¬ 
technic display in the sky—the effect of the innumerable flashes 
of fire twittering high up in the column of dark smoke over the 
town, and then changing rapidly into as many balls of white 
smoke like little clouds. All this time the Russians were march¬ 
ing with sullen tramp across the bridge, and boats were busy 
carrying off materiel from the town, or bearing men to the south 
side, to complete the work of destruction and renew the fires of 
hidden mines, or light up untouched houses. Of the fleet, all that 
remained visible were the eight steamers and the masts of the 
sunken line of battle ships. As soon as it was dawn, the French 
began to steal from their trenches into the burning town, undis¬ 
mayed by the flames, by the terrors of these explosions, by the 
fire of a lurking enemy, or by the fire of their own guns, which 
kept on slowly discharging cannon-shot and grape into the sub¬ 
urbs at regular intervals, possibly with the object of deterring 
stragglers from risking their lives. But red breeches and blue 
breeches, kepi and Zouave fez, could soon be distinguished in 
amid the flames, and moving from house to house. Ere 5 
o’clock there were numbers of men coming back with plunder, 
such as it was, and Russian relics were offered for sale in the 
camp before the Russian battalions had marched out of the city. 
The sailors too, were not behindhand in looking for “ loot,” 
and Jack could be seen staggering under chairs, tables, and 
lumbering old pictures, through every street, and making his 
way back to the trenches with vast accumulations of worthless¬ 
ness. Several men lost their lives by explosions on this and 
the following day. At 7 ten several detonations of shells and 
powder magazines took place in the town, behind the Redan and 
also on the left of the Dockyard Creek. At 7.12 immense 
clouds of black smoke rose from behind Fort Paul, probably 
from a steamer which was burning in the dockyard. The Rus¬ 
sian columns, which had been defiling in a continuous stream 
across the bridge, now became broken into small bodies, or went 
over in intermittent masses unscathed by the shot and shell 
which plunged into the water close beside them. At 6 45 the 
last dense column marched past, and soon afterwards the b-ddge 


SEBASTOPOL AFTER ITS ABANDONMENT. 


157 


was pulled asunder, and the pieces were all floated across to 
the north side at 8.7. The boats did not cease to pull back¬ 
ward and forward all the time, and the steamers were exceed¬ 
ingly busy long after the garrison moved. At nine there were 
many explosions in the town amid the burning ruins, and the 
battlements of Fort Nicholas appeared in flames. Still there was 
no explosion there, nor in Fort Paul. As the rush from camp 
now became very great, and every one sought to visit the Mala- 
koff and th§ Redan, which were filled with dead and dying men, 
a line of English cavalry was posted across the front from their 
extreme left to the French right. They were stationed in all 
the ravines and roads to the town and trenches, with orders to 
keep back all persons except the generals and staff, and officers 
and men on duty. 

The ambulances never ceased, now moving heavily and 
slowly with their burdens, again rattling at a trot to the front 
for a fresh cargo, and the ground between the trenches and the 
camp was studded with cacolets or mule litters. Already the 
funeral parties had commenced their labors. The Russians all 
this time were swarming on the north side, and took the liveliest 
interest in the progress of the explosions and conflagrations, 
They took up ground in their old camps, and swarmed all over 
the face of the hills behind their northern forts. Their steam¬ 
ers cast anchor, or were moored close to the shore among the 
creeks, on the north side, near Fort Catharine. By degrees 
the generals, French and English, and the staff officers, edged 
down upon the town; but Fort Paul had not yet gone up, and 
Fort Nicholas was burning, and engineers declared the place 
would be unsafe for 48 hours. Moving down, however, a 
small party managed to get out among the French works 
between the Mamelon and Malakoff. The ground is here liter¬ 
ally paved with shot and shell, and the surface is deeply honey¬ 
combed by the explosion of the bombs at every square yard. 

There were many ghastly sights—Russians who had died, or 
were dying as they lay, brought so far towards the hospitals 
from the fatal Malakoff. Passing through a maze of trenches, 
of gabionades, and of zig-zags and parallels, by which the 
French had worked their sure and deadly way close to the 
heart of the Russian defense, and treading gently among the 
heaps of dead, where the ground bears full tokens of the 
bloody fray, we come at last to the head of the French sap. 
It is barely ten yards from that to the base of the huge 
sloping mound of earth which rises full twenty feet in height 
above the level, and shows in every direction the grinning 
muzzles of its guns. The tri-color waves placidly from its 
highest point, and already the French are busy constructing a 


158 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


semaphore on the top. Step briskly out of the sap—avoid 
those poor mangled braves who are lying all around, and come 
on. There is a deep ditch at your feet, some 20 or 22 feet deep, 
and 10 feet broad. See, here is the place where the French 
crossed—here is the bridge of planks, and here they swarmed 
in upon the unsuspecting defenders of the Malakoff. They had 
not ten yards to go. The English had 200, and were then out 
of breath. Were not planks better than scaling ladders? See 
how easily the French crossed. You observe on your right 
hand, as you issue from the head of the French trench, a line 
of gabions on the ground running up to this bridge. That is a 
flying sap, which the French made the instant they got out of 
the trench into the Malakoff, so that they were enabled to pour 
a continuous stream of men into the works, with comparative 
safety from the flank fire of the enemy. In the same way 
they at once dug a trench across the work inside, to see if there 
were any galvanic wires to fire mines. Mount the parapet and 
descend—of what amazing thickness are those embrasures I 
From the level of the ground inside to the top of the parapet 
can not be less than 18 feet. There are eight rows of gabions 
piled one above the other, and as each row recedes towards the 
top it leaves in the ledge below an excellent banquette for the 
defenders. Inside the sight is too horrible to dwell upon. 
The French are carrying away their own and the Russian 
wounded, and there are five distinct piles of dead formed to 
clear the way. The ground is marked by pools of blood, and 
the smell is already noisome; swarms of flies settle on dead 
and dying; broken muskets, torn clothes, caps, shakos, swords, 
bayonets, bags of bread, canteens, and haversacks are lying in 
indescribable wreck all over the place, mingled with heaps of 
shot, of grape, bits of shell, cartridges, case and canister, loose 
powder, official papers, and cooking tins. The traverses are so 
high and deep that it is impossible almost to get a view of the 
whole of the Malakoff from any one spot, and there is a high 
mound of earth in the middle of the work, either intended as a 
kind of shell-proof, or the remains of the old White Tower. The 
guns, which to the number of 60 were found in the work, are all 
ship’s guns, and mounted on ship’s carriages, and worked in 
the same way as ship’s guns. There are a few old-fashioned, 
oddly-shaped mortars. Look around the work, and you will 
see that the strength of the Russian was his weakness—he fell 
into his own bomb-proofs. In the parapet of the work may be 
observed several entrances—very narrow outside, but descend¬ 
ing and enlarging downwards, and opening into rooms some 
four or five feet high and eight or ten square. These are only 
lighted from the outside by day, and must have been pitch 


SEBASTOPOL AFTER ITS ABANDONMENT. 


159 


dark at niglit, unless the men were allowed lanterns. Here the 
garrison retired when exposed to a heavy bombardment. The 
odor of these narrow chambers is villainous, and the air reeks 
with blood and abominations unutterable. There are several of 
these places, and they might set defiance to the heaviest mor¬ 
tars in the world : over the roof is a layer of ship’s masts, cut 
in junks and deposited carefully; then there is over them a 
solid layer of earth, and above that a layer of gabions, and 
above that a pile of earth again. In one of these dungeons, 
which is excavated in the solid rock, and was probably under¬ 
neath the old White Tower, the officer commanding seems to 
have lived. It must have been a dreary residence. The floor 
and the entrance was littered a foot deep with reports, returns, 
and perhaps dispatches assuring the Czar that the place had 
sustained no damage. The garrison were in these narrow 
chambers enjoying their siesta, which they invariably take at 
twelve o’clock, when the French burst in on them like a tor¬ 
rent, and, as it were, drowned them in their holes. The Mala- 
koff is a closed work ; it is only open at the rear to the town, 
and the French having once got in, threw open a passage to 
their own rear, and closed up the front and the lateral commu¬ 
nications with the curtains leading to the Great Redan and to 
the Little Redan. Thus they were enabled to pour in their 
supports, in order and without loss, in a continued stream, and 
to resist the efforts of the Russians, which were desperate and 
repeated, to re-take the place. They brought up their field 
guns at once, and swept the Russian reserves and supports, 
while Strange’s battery from the Quarries carried death through 
their ranks in every quarter of the Karabelnaia. With the 
Malakoff the Russians lost Sebastopol. The ditch outside to¬ 
wards the north was yet full of French and Russians piled over 
each other in horrid confusion. On the right, towards the 
Little Redan, the ground was literally strewn with bodies as 
thick as they could lie, and in the ditch they were piled over 
each other. Here the French, victorious in the Malakoff, met 
with a heavy loss and a series of severe repulses. The Rus¬ 
sians lay inside the works in heaps, like carcases in a butcher’s 
cart, and the wounds, the blood—the sight exceeded all I had 
hitherto witnessed. Descending from the Malakoff we come 
upon a suburb of ruined houses open to the sea; it is filled 
with dead. The Russians have crept away into holes and cor¬ 
ners of every house to die like poisoned rats ; artillery horses, 
with their entrails torn open by shot, are stretched all over the 
space at the back of the Malakoff, marking the place where the 
Russians moved up their last column to retake it, under the 
cover of a heavy field battery. Every house, the church, some 


160 


PROGRESS OF THE WAK 


public buildings, sentry boxes, all alike are broken and riddled 
by cannon and mortar. Turning to the left, we proceed by a 
very tall snow-white wall of great length to the dockyard gate¬ 
way. This wall is pierced and broken through and through 
with cannon. Inside are the docks, which naval men say, are 
unequalled in the world. Gates and store sides are splintered 
and pierced by shot. There are the stately dockyard buildings 
on the right, which used to look so clean, and white, and 
spruce. Parts of them are knocked to atoms, and hang to¬ 
gether in such shreds and patches that it is only wonderful 
they cohere. The soft white stones, of which they and the 
walls are made, are readily knocked to pieces by a cannon shot. 
Fort Paul is untouched. There it stands, as if frowning de¬ 
fiance at its impending fate, right before us, and warning voices 
bid all people to retire, and even the most benevolent retreat 
from the hospital, which is in one of these buildings, where 
they are tending the miserable wounded. 


HORRORS OF THE HOSPITAL AT SEBASTOPOL. 

Of all the pictures of the horrors of war which have ever 
been presented to the world, the hospital of Sebastopol pre* 
sents the most horrible, heart-rending, and revolting. It can 
not be described, and the imagination of a Fuseli could not 
conceive any thing at all like unto it. How the poor human 
body can be mutilated and yet hold its soul within, when 
every limb is shattered, and every vein and artery is pouring 
out the life stream, one might study here at every step, and at 
the same time wonder how little will kill I The building used 
as an hospital is one of the noble piles inside the dock-yard 
wall, and is situate in the centre of the row at right angles to 
the line of the Redan. The whole row was peculiarly exposed 
to the action of shot and shell bounding over the Redan, 
and to the missiles directed at the Barrack Battery, and it bears 
in sides, roofs, windows, and doors, frequent and destructive 
proofs of the severity of the cannonade. Entering one of 
these doors I beheld such a sight as few men, thank God, have 
ever witnessed! In a long low room supported by square pil¬ 
lars, arched at the top, and dimly lighted through shattered 
and unglazed window frames, lay the wounded Russians. The 
wounded, did I say? No, but the dead, the rotten and fester¬ 
ing corpses of the soldiers who were left to die in their extreme 
agony, untended, uncared for, packed as close as they could 
be stowed, some on the floor, others on wretched tressels and 
bedsteads, or pallets of straw, sopped and saturated with blood, 








I » 



V 



FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 






/ 


V 




— A 





HORRORS OF THE HOSPITAL AT SEBASTOPOL. 161 

which oozed and trickled through upon the floor, mingled with 
the droppings of corruption. With the roar of exploding for¬ 
tresses in their ears, with shells and shot forcing through the 
roof and sides of the rooms in which they lay, with the crack¬ 
ling and hissing of fire around them, those poor fellows, who 
had served the Czar but too well, were consigned to their ter¬ 
rible fate. Many might have been saved by ordinary care. 
Many lay, yet alive, with maggots crawling about in their 
wounds. Many nearly mad by the scenes around them, or 
seeking escape from it in their extremest agony, had rolled 
away under the beds, and glared out on the heart-stricken 
spectators, oh! with such looks. Many with legs and arms 
broken and twisted, the jagged splinters sticking through the 
raw flesh, implored aid, water, food, or pity, or, deprived of 
speech by the approach of death, or by dreadful injuries on the 
head or trunk, pointed to the lethal spot. Many seemed bent 
alone on making their peace with Heaven. The attitudes of 
some were so hideously fantastic as to appal and root one tc 
the ground by a sort of dreadful fascination. Could that 
bloodv mass of clothing and white bones ever have been a 
human being, or that burnt black mass of flesh have ever had 
a human soul? It was fearful to think what the answer must 
be. The bodies of numbers of men were swollen and bloated 
to an incredible degree, and the features distended to a gigantic 
size, with eyes protruding fron the sockets, and the blackened 
tongue lolling out of the mouth, compressed tightly by the 
teeth which had set upon it in the death-rattle, made one shud¬ 
der and reel round. In the midst of one of these “ chambers 
of horrors 1 ’—for there were many of them—we found some 
dead and some living English soldiers, and among them poor 
Captain Vaughan, of the 90th, who has since succumbed to his 
wounds. I confess it was impossible for me to stand the sight, 
which horrified our most experienced surgeons—the deadly 
clammy stench, the smell of the gangrened wounds, of corrupt 
blood, of rotting flesh, were intolerable and odious beyond en¬ 
durance. But what must the wounded felt who were obliged 
to endure all this, and who passed away without a hand to 
give them a cup of water, or a voice to say one kindly word 
to them? Most of these men were wounded on Saturday- 
many perhaps on the Friday before—indeed, it is impossible to 
say how long they might have been there. 

The Great Redan was next visited. Such a scene of wreck 
and ruin! All the houses behind it a mass of broken stones 
—a clock turret, with a shot right through the clock—a pagoda 
in ruins—another clock tower with all the clock destroyed save 
the dial, with the words “ Barwise, London,” thereon—cook- 

11 


162 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


houses, where human blood was running among the utensils: 
in one place a shell had lodged in the boiler and blown it and 
its contents, and probably its inhabitants, to pieces. Every¬ 
where wreck and destruction. This evidently was a bean, 
quartier once. The oldest inhabitant could not recognize it now. 
Climbing up to the Redan, which was fearfully encumbered 
with the dead, we witnessed the scene of the desperate attack 
and defense, which cost both sides so much blood The ditch 
outside made one sick—it was piled up with English dead, 
some of them scorched and blackened by the explosion, 
and others lacerated beyond recognition. The quantity of 
broken gabions and gun carriages here was extraordinary—the 
ground was covered with them. The bomb-proofs were the 
same as in the Malakoff, and in one of them a music book was 
found, with a woman’s name in it, and a Canary bird and vase 
Of flowers were outside the entrance. 


RUSSIAN SHIPS DESTROYED AT SEBASTOPOL. 

The following is a statement of the Russian fleet at So* 
bastopol previous to the invasion of the Crimea, by the allies. 
It consisted of the following ships : 

tShips of the Line. —Twelve Apostles, 120; Paris, 120, 
Three Saints, 120; Grand Duke Constantine, 120; Yladimir, 
120; Sviotoslaw, 84; Rostislaw, 84; Selaphoel, 84; Three 
Hierarchies, 84; Tro-Sviatitalia, 84; Yarna, 84; Gabriel, 84; 
Empress Maria, 84; Tschesme, 80. 

Frigates. —Cagul, 60; Koulefgi, 60 ; Cavarna, 60 ; Medea, 60. 
Corvettes and Brigs .—Calypso, 18; Pylade, 18 ; Ptolemy, 20; 
Theseus, 20; Eneas, 20. 

Smaller Vessels. — The Nearch, Streilla, Orlanda, Drolik, 
Zia-biaka, Lastorga, Smaglaga, 11 transports and 64 gunboats. 

Steamers , 12—6 large, and 6 small/ Among the first are 
the Yladimir, Bessarabia, and Gromnostetz, which were re¬ 
markable for their power and the range of their guns. 

In all, 108 sail, mounting 2200 guns. 


THE BOOTY FOUND IN SEBASTOPOL. 

The joint commission appointed to report on the booty found 
in Seoastopol, and to determine its mode of distribution, has 
completed its labors. The report was signed by the Commis¬ 
sioners on the 1st inst. 8800 cannon of large and small cali¬ 
bre, 6 steam-engines, 18,000 or 19,000 balls, bomb-shells, an- 


THE BOOTY FOCND IN SEBASTOPOL. 163 

ctors, chains, rigging of all kinds, etc., have beeD found. The 
Commission has decided that all the booty shall be divided 
between France and England. But it has been agreed at the 
same time that, after having valued the different articles ac¬ 
cording to their weight, the distribution should take place in 
proportion to the number of men in each army; and that if on 
this calculation England should have a right to only one fourth 
of the whole, she would restore to France the value of the ad¬ 
ditional amount she may have received, at the rate of 10c per 
kilogramme, the price of old iron. There is no mention of 
the 1 urks in the report. As to the Sardinians, it is necessary 
to say that, being included in the English army, they have a 
claim to a portion of the amount assigned to the latter. The 
following arrangements have been made with regard to the 
town: That portion of the city comprised within the Quaran¬ 
tine, Port Nicholas, the Military Harbor, and the Flagstaff 
Battery, shall be the exclusive property of the French. The 
English shall have for their part, the Karabelnaia suburbs at 
the same time the French will be free to erect hospitals there 
and to use Careening-bay, the docks, eta 

THE CZAIl IN THE CRIMEA. 

September 10th. — The Czar Alexander quitted Russia for 
the Crimea, for the purpose of inspiring by his presence the 
sinking energies of his army. His arrival at Nicolaieff was 
greeted with demonstrations of great joy by the soldiers and 
inhabitants, who now, for the first time, felt confidence in the 
ultimate success of their cause. 

Nicolaieff possesses twelve dock yards, six for ships of the 
line and six for smaller vessels; also immense arsenals, and 
almost exhauslless materials for ship building. It employs 
600 workmen in ordinary times, and 12,000 on occasions of 
emergency. 

On the 29th, the allied fleet appeared off the port, and 
opened its guns upon the town. At the entreaty of his offi¬ 
cers and suit, the Czar retired some miles into the interior; 
but his brother, the Grand Duke of Constantine, could not 
be prevailed upon to leave the scene of conflict. After a 
bombardment of five hours, which was gallantly returned by 
the allied fleet, drew off, having accomplished but little else 
than the destruction of an inconsiderable number of com¬ 
paratively valuoless buildings. Shortly after the bombard¬ 
ment, the Czar left Nicolaieff for Elisabetgrad, a smaJi forti¬ 
fied town about 160 miles north of that important port Th* 


164 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


momentous fall of Kinburn, a few weeks later, material!/ 
affecting the face of affairs in the campaign, the Czar, accompa- 
nied by his brother and suit, hastily returned to St. Petersburg. 


CAPTURE OF A RUSSIAN FLOTILLA. 

September 18th. —The English frigate Dragon, while cruis 
ing off Haddigarne, opposite the Islands of Narken, unexpect 
edly fell in with and captured a flotilla of Russian merchant¬ 
men, consisting of seventeen vessels of different rigs and sizes, 
which have been sent to England as prizes. 


DESTRUCTION OF MERCHANT SHIPPING AT OLD SALIS. 

On September 25th, a couple of large steam-frigates, under 
the British flag, arrived off the mouth of the river Salis, about 
50 miles higher up the coast, and cast anchor within gun-shot 
of the town of Old Salis. A boat was immediately lowered, 
which, manned by an officer and seven sailors, proceeded to 
sound and reconnoitre the mouth of the river and the chan¬ 
nel. On having accomplished this, they gave a signal to the 
ships, when four more boats, containing four officers and fifty- 
four men, pushed off and joined the first boat. These five 
boats then pulled in toward the shore, the foremost of them 
displaying a white flag in her bows, which was answered by 
a similar one hoisted on the flagstaff on the shore, in the hope 
of thereby saving the ten timber vessels lying at anchor 
about a verst up the river, without their masts and rigging. 
Whilst the lastly-arrived ‘ four boats lay on their oars, the 
first one approached the landing-place, and the English officer 
in command inquired of Herr Yon Behaghel, the principal 
proprietor and inhabitant of Old Salis, whether the vessels 
lying in the river belonged to the government or were private 
property? This gentleman replied that they belonged to 
him ana his people, upon which the lieutenant expressed his 
regret, but his positve orders were to destroy them and all 
others they might find along the coast. Representations and 
entreaties were of no avail; the sailors set fire to all the ves¬ 
sels, after which they returned to the frigate. As soon as 
the latter were out of sight, attempts were made by the 
inhabitants of Old Salis to extinguish the flames and save 
some of the burning vessels, but without much success, as 
only two were partially saved, whilst the remaining eight 
were burned to the water's edge and totally destroyed. 


BOMBARDMENT OF THE FORTS AT DUNAMUNDE. 


165 


THE BOMBARDMENT OF THE FORTS AT DUNAMUNDE. 

September 27th. —Early on the morning of this date, the 
inhabitants of Riga were suddenly aroused from their slum¬ 
bers by a severe and heavy cannonade. During the night eight 
British men-of-war—four line-of-battle ships, a frigate, and 
three corvettes—had approached the coast unperceived, and 
at daybreak opened their fire upon the batteries at Dunamunde, 
the mouth of the Duna. The bombardment was kept up for 
nearly three hours, without, however, inflicting much damage 
on the batteries, except dismounting a few guns, after which 
the hostile squadron stood off to the westward, and took up 
a position opposite the colony of Bullen, situated at the 
mouth of one of the channels of the Duna. Here they opened 
a heavy fire on the batteries, which was but feebly answered 
by the Russian artillerymen. This second bombardment 
lasted for two hours, and the damage done was considerably 
more important than at Dunamunde. About noon the ships 
drew off altogether, and disappeared in a northerly direction. 


the cavalry affair near eupatoria. 

September 29th. — As had been agreed pon between 
Ahmet Mushir Pasha and General d’Allonville, three columns 
left Eupatoria on the 29th, at 3 o’clock in the morning, to 
march against the Russians. The first column, directed to 
the south-east, went to take up a position at the extremity of 
the isthmus, towards Saki. It had only a few squadrons be¬ 
fore it, and these it easily kept in check, assisted as it was by 
two gun-boats. The second commanded by the Mushir in 
person, passing through Orar Atchin and Teiech, advanced 
on Djollchak, destroying on its march all the enemy’s stores. 
The third, at the head of which was General d’Allonville, 
consisted of twelve squadrons of his division, of Armand’s 
battery (horse-artillery), with 200 irregular horse and six 
Egyptian battalions. This column crossed one of the arms 
of Lake Sasik, and marched through Chiban on Djollchak, 
the joint rendezvous, where the two other columns arrived 
at about ten o’clock in the forenoon. The two latter columns 
had driven before them some Russian squadrons, which had 
fallen back successively on their reserves. 

General d’Allonville was having the horses baited, when 
he observed a move on the part of the Russians, who, with 
eighteen squadrons, several sotnias of Cossacks, and same 
artillery, were endeavoring to turn the General’s right by 


166 


PROGRESS OP THE WAR. 


advancing between him and the lake. General d'AHonville, 
whom the Mushir caused to be supported in the rear by two 
regiments of Turkish cavalry and the six Egyptian battallions, 
immediately proceeded towards the end of the lake, in order 
to surround the enemy. The promptitude of this movement 
enabled the 4th Hussars, to charge the enemy with drawn 
sabres, while the 6th and 7th Dragoons dashed at the Russian 
Uhlans, and drove them into headlong flight, harrassing them 
for more than two leagues. As the Russians kept their 
ground at no one point, and w r ere flying in all directions, Gen. 
d’Allonville caused his squadrons to halt, picking up before 
retiring, all that remained on the field of battle. 

In this action the French captured 6 guns, 12 ammunition 
chests with their teams, 169 prisoners, and 250 horses. The 
losses in killed and wounded were—Russians 50 ; French 85. 


THE CONQUEST OF KARS BY THE RUSSIANS. 

September 29th. —'The Russians, under General Mouravieff, 
the Commander-in-chief of the Russian forces in Asia Minor, 
invested Kars, the stronghold of the Turks, and made prepa¬ 
rations to carry it by escalade. Kars was defended by Gen. 
Williams, who, with 16,000 English and Turks, determined to 
give the enemy a warm reception. The Russians advanced 
to the assault in full force, at 8 a. m., but were met by a sudden 
slaughterous fire from the parapets and embrasures in the 
walls surrounding the city that threw them into confusion 
and compelled them to fall back. Again, however, they 
pushed forward, and again they were driven off. Mouravieff 
now changed his plan of attack, and concluded, by a single 
bold effort, to force his way into the city. He concentrated 
his troops around the main entrance, in the face of a galling 
fire from the besieged, and while his troops picked off the 
heads that peered above the parapets, his cannon thundered 
furiously at the gate, which for a time e ndured the assault 
but finally suddenly gave way, when, as if they had only been 
waiting for such an event, the Turks and English unexpect¬ 
edly rushed out in a steady compact mass, to the number of 
.15,000, and, hastily forming into columns, fiercely charged 
the besiegers. For a few minutes, the Russians were in con¬ 
fusion ; but the skill coolness and steady courage of Moura¬ 
vieff were equal to the emergency. Hurriedly giving his 
orders, he dashed forward, at full gallop, in the face of the 
enemy, calling, with a ringing shout, on his men to follow. 
The example of their General w r as electric. With a wild 


CONQUEST OF KARS BY THE RUSSIANS. 16? 

liuzzah, the Russians bore down as one man, to meet the 
advancing Turks. The two armies met with a staggering 
shock, but recovered, and were soon as a turbulent mutinous 
host, in which all the fiercest elements in man's nature were 
aroused and seething. The combat was close, furious and 
slaughterous. Turks and Russians, English and Mingrelian, 
locked in savage embrace, fell in blood heaps—the field was 
strewed with the dying and the dead, and still the battle 
raged. By a happy combination of incidents at this juncture, 
the opposing Generals each succeeded in sparating or calling 
off his troops, and in disposing them for more effective work. 
Mouravieff recaptured his guns, and opened them with tre¬ 
mendous effect upon the Turks, who however, under the mas¬ 
terly guidance of their brave leader, General Williams, could 
neither be decoyed nor driven from their position near the 
gate. Meanwhile, the embrasures in the walls, poured forth 
upon the left flank of the Russians a raking fire which swept 
them down in hundreds. Calling at length to his men from 
the walls and city, and making his dispositions to conform to 
his plan, General Williams rushed forward, with the deter¬ 
mination to bring the action to a close by risking all upon a 
single charge. The experiment was successful. The Rus¬ 
sians, whose thinned ranks rendered them unable to sustain 
themselves against a force thrice that of their own, turned, 
and were soon in full flight, leaving behind them four thous¬ 
and killed and wounded, three hundred prisoners, and a great 
quantity of stores. The action from the beginning to the 
close, lasted seven hours and a half, and was one of tho 
fiercest in modern history. 

But though whipped, Mouravieff was not inclined to con¬ 
sider himself defeated. He gave his troops a few days rest, 
sent off for reinforcements, and then returned to Kars, which 
he surrounded, and, sitting down, calmly determined to starve 
the city into submission. Hearing that Omar Pasha was ad¬ 
vancing with a force of thirty thousand men, he issued a 
proclamation calling the entire population of Imeretia, Guriel 
and Mingrelia, to rise and wage a war of extermination 
against the enemies of the Cross. This appeal was not with¬ 
out its effect. Every where, throughout the Caucasus, the 
inhabitants flew to arms. On learning this fact, Omar Pasha 
broke up his march, and retreated, leaving Kars to its fate. 
Meanwhile,Mouraveiflf continued the siege. The Turks made 
.several sorties, but were driven back. At length in the city, 
affairs began to assume a serious aspect. Shut in from com¬ 
munication with the surrounding country, there was but one 
prospect before the inhabitants—famine. All hopes of help 


168 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


from Omar Pasha became meagre, and finally vanished. 
Weeks passed away, and the provisions were all consumed. 
The people had now no resources except in their horses ; 
these disappeared, then their dogs, then their cats. Men, 'wo¬ 
men and children became delirious with hunger. Still, Gen. 
Williams would not surrender. At length the famine which 
was tearing the vitals of the inhabitants reached his own 
table. There was no merit in longer holding out. He capitu¬ 
lated, and Kars was in the hands of the Russians. As the 
hitter entered the city, they were struck with pity at the 
pale, ghastly, emaciated appearance of their late foes, who 
were drawn up in lines, in the great square, to receive them. 
The Turks could scarcely stand erect. Here and there one 
fell to the earth from exhaustion. They were like lines of 
dying men. The Russians were moved to compassion. They 
broke from the ranks, and rushing forward offered them their 
canteens. Mouravieffs dispatch, announcing the final con¬ 
quest of Kars, thrilled the court at St. Petersburg with joy, 
and the allied pow r ers with indignation. 16,000 prisoners, 12 
standards, 130 cannon, and 30,000 muskets fell into the hands 
of the victors. 


CAPTURE OF RUSSIAN VESSELS. 

October 2d. —The French corvette d’Assas and the English 
steamers Tartar and Harrier, captured 11 Russian vessels, 
anchored at Biornabord, in the gulf of Bothnia, of an aggre¬ 
gate burden of 2,500 tons. 


DESIRE FOR PEACE. 

October 10th. —Paris, London and St. Petersburg, are anx¬ 
ious for a return of peace. Active negotiations are opened 
by Austria with the conflicting powers. 


THE FALL OF KINBURN. 

October 14th.— The allied fleet moved from the roads of 
Odessa and anchored, at night, off Kinburn, which commands 
the Bay of Khasan and also the mouths of the rivers Dneiper 
and Bug. The troops disembarked in the darkness, and en¬ 
camped on the landside of the fort under General Bozaine • 
while the fleet bore up abreast of the fortress which was thus 


PEACE CONFERENCE PROPOSED. 


161 


threatened in front and rear. At daylight the Russians dis¬ 
covered the precariousness of their position ; but, nothing 
daunted, they opened their batteries upon the enemy, whose 
guns slowly responded. A storm rising about 9 o’clock, im¬ 
paired the aim of the fleet, which ceased firing and drew off 
to await a more favorable hour. The day passed off, and on 
the following morning, the fleet drew up in line abreast of 
the fort, and commenced a well-directed fire, which was 
promptly answered by the latter. At the same time the mor¬ 
tars of General Bozaine commenced their deadly discharges. 
The bombardment was fiercely pressed for four hours and a 
half, when the fort began to exhibit evidences of weakness. 
Its embrasures lightened less frequently with the flashes of 
its guns ; a few ceased altogether : and large gaps were visi¬ 
ble in the walls. At length the fire of the fleet met with only 
an occasional response—the fort was fighting its last blow. 
Admiral Lyon, of the allied fleet, thinking it right to respect 
the courage of the brave men at the guns, made a signal to 
the fleet to cease firing, and hoisting a flag of truce, dispatched 
a boat ashore with a demand for the capitulation of the fort, 
which was accepted, and the garrison, numbering one general 
officer, ten minor officers, and 1,380 men—surrendered them¬ 
selves prisoners, and were allowed to march out with the 
honors of war. 174 pieces of cannon, 250,000 projectiles, 
120,000 cartridges, and ammunition and supplies of every 
kind, were the fruits of this well-managed expedition. The 
Russians, in their despair at the fall of this important fortress, 
blew up, on the following day, the fort of Otchakoff, and three 
adjoining batteries, to prevent them from falling into the 
hands of the enemy. With Kinburn in their possession, the 
allies have Nicolaieff and Kherson comparatively at their 
mercy. 


PEACE CONFERENCE PROPOSED. 

October 25th. —A peace conference is proposed by Aus¬ 
tria, and accepted by France and England, who fear, however, 
that Russia will not accept the only terms on which they will 
treat, viz : for a lasting peace. 


BOMBARDMENT OF MARIONOPLE. 

October 31.—The English fleet bombarded Marionople, 
on the north coast of the sea of Azoff, and captured it after 
a brief engagement of two hours and forty minutes. 


170 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


BATTLE OF THE INGOUR. 

November 6th.— The Ingour is one of the principal streams 
which enter the Black Sea upon its eastern shore, and it is 
the boundary of Abasia and Mingrelia ; rising in the snowy 
Caucasus, it winds through the densely-wooded country which 
extends from the base of the range to the sea, and debouches 
at Anaklia. Approaching the bank of the river, as if stalk¬ 
ing deer, “ I was enabled,” says a correspondent of a London 
paper, “ to see across the river, and to follow the line of 
stockades erected among the trees upon the opposite bank, 
beyond which appeared the heads of great numbers of Rus¬ 
sian soldiers and Mingrelian militia. At one point there was 
an intrenchment, where thirty or forty were grouped togeth¬ 
er ; at others they were posted at regular distances behind 
the stockades or amid the thick brushwood. In the after¬ 
noon a dropping shot or two informed us that we had been 
perceived by the enemy, and a company of Rifles was march¬ 
ed down for a little Minie practice. On the 3d November 
desultory fire of this sort was pretty brisk, and the utmost 
caution was required in reconnoitering. The bed of the river 
at this point averages about 200 yards in breadth ; but there 
is very little water in it at present, and large stony islands 
intersect it in every direction. In the course of the after¬ 
noon Omar Pasha arrived and inspected the position himself. 
He rode over the ground, and ordered two batteries to be 
constructed to command the passage of the river, and which 
should at the same time enfilade a great portion of the op¬ 
posite bank. These were constructed with the greatest suc¬ 
cess. Although right under the enemy, the working parties 
were not discovered before dawn, when the ’ batteries were 
almost completed, and only one man was killed by the fire 
which was then opened upon them. The strength of the 
Russians was estimated at about 10,000, of which half were 
regular troops, the remainder Mingrelian militia. In many 
places the opposite bank was flat, and nowhere do the banks 
seem to exceed 100 feet in height. 

The energy with which Omar Pasha pushed forward opera¬ 
tions resulted in the utter defeat of the Russians and the suc¬ 
cessful passage of the Ingour, after a short but bloody battle. 
In the morning the order came for the troops to get under 
arms immediately, and at 11 o'clock, a. m. we crossed one 
branch of the river, about two miles lower down, without 
opposition. We now found ourselves upon an island five or 
six miles long and about two miles broad, across which the 
troops marched Three battalions of Rifles, under Colonel 


BATTLE OF THE INGOUR. 


171 


Ballard, w ere sent forward to line the woods, through which 
we advanced by a narrow path. About one o'clock we 
reached a large field of Indian corn, and heard the Rifles 
hotly engaged with the enemy in a thick wood in our front. 
The Russians were soon driven from this across the river, 
and opened a tremendous fire from behind a battery upon 
the wood, oY which the Rifles had now taken possession. 
Meantime, as the leading column of the Turkish army showed 
itself upon the plain, a battery consisting of five guns opened 
upon them, which was speedily replied to by our artillery. A 
path was formed under cover of a steep bank, under which 
the infantry advanced to the support of the Rifles in the 
wood, who had been sustaining and replying in the most de¬ 
termined manner to the tremendous fire which the enemy 
had been concentrating upon them. While this was the 
position of affairs opposite the battery, Omar Pasha detached 
Osman Pasha with six battalions to a ford which had been 
discovered about a mile and a half down the river. Here 
they found themselves warmly received by the enemy, drawn 
up in force upon the opposite bank. Notwithstanding the 
velocity of the current and the depth of the water, the Turk¬ 
ish troops after firing a volley, dashed across the river in the 
face of a cruel fire, and in splendid style drove the Russians 
into the woods behind at the point of the bayonet. At 
almost the same moment Colonel Simmonds, at the head of 
two battalions of infantry and three companies of Rifles, 
crossed the river in front of the fort, and assaulted it under 
a murderous fire. Here his aid-de-camp, Captain Hymock, 
was killed while gallantly charging at the head of his battal¬ 
ion, while a Russian column which attacked them in flank 
was promptly met by the column under Colonel Simmonds, 
at the point of the bayonet and completely routed. This de¬ 
cided the day. The Russians evacuated the battery in the 
utmost confusion, leaving five guns and ammunition wagons 
in our hands, besides about fifty prisoners. The ground was 
strewn with killed and wounded ; their loss must have been 
very great, though so many escaped into the woods to die 
that it is difficult to form any just estimate. Upwards of 300 
have already been found, among which were the bodies of 
eight officers and two colonels. I counted twenty-two horses 
lying dead in one heap. Our own loss amounts to 400 killed 
and wounded, of which about one hundred were killed. The 
Rifles alone lost twenty-six men killed and seventy-five 
wounded. The English officers concerned in this affair aM 
behaved most gallantly ; of the five attached to the army, 
three had horses shot under them, and one was killed. There 


172 


PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 


can be no doubt that this victory will exercise a most impor¬ 
tant influence upon the population of Mingrelia. Of the 
force which was opposed to us a very correct estimate can¬ 
not be formed, but from the accounts we have received it 
cannot have been far short of ten thousand, of which four 
thousand were Mingrelians and the rest regular troops. The 
Russian army is now in full retreat. 


NEW BRITISH COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 

November 12th. —General Simpson has retired, and the 
supreme command of the British forces has been assumed by 
General Sir William Codrington. The change was received 
by the general officers with much dissatisfaction. 


A SHARP BUT UNIMPORTANT ACTION. 

December 8th. —Twenty-six hundred Russians attacked a 
large body of the allies at Baga, Orkousta, Skrada,—three vil¬ 
lages on the eastern extremity of the valley of Baiden—but 
after an hour of sharp fighting, were compelled to beat a 
rapid retreat, leaving thirty prisoners and sixty killed and 
wounded. 


DEFEAT OF ANGLO-TURKISH CAVALRY. 

December 16th.— Two sotnias of Cossacks attacked and 
defeated a strong squadron of Gen. Vivian’s Anglo-Turkish 
cavalry, near Kertch, capturing the commanding officer. 


PROSPECT OF PEACE. 

January 3rd. —The Emperor of France is satisfied that 
peace is at hand, and gives orders to his minister of war to 
cease the conscription. 

England is not so confident, and having ready a fresh, en¬ 
larged and well equipped fleet, holds herself in readiness for 
whatever may be the result of the peace conference. 

January 19th— The Czar Alexander transmits to his diplo¬ 
matic agents the following circular, in which it will be seen 
that he accepts the pacific proposals of the Emperor of 
Austria. 

“ Public opinion in Europe has been strongly excited by the 


PROSPECT OF PEACE. 


173 


intelligence that propositions of peace concerted between 
the Allied Powers and Austria had been transmitted to St. 
Petersburg through the intervention of the Cabinet of 
Vienna. 

“ Already the Imperial Cabinet, upon its side, had made a 
step in the path of conciliation, by pointing out, in a despatch 
bearing date the 11th (23rd) of December, published in all 
the foreign journals, the sacrifices which it was prepared to 
make, with a view to the restoration of peace. 

“ This twofold proceeding proved the existence on either 
side of a desire to profit by the compulsory cessation imposed 
by the rigor of the season on the military operations, in order 
to respond to the unanimous wishes which were everywhere 
manifested in favor of a speedy peace. 

“ In the despatch cited above, the Imperial Government 
had taken for basis the four points of guarantee admitted by 
the conferences at Vienna, and had proposed, with regard to 
the third point—which had alone led to the rupture of the 
conferences,—a solution which differed rather in form than 
in substance from the one put forward at that epoch by the 
Allied Powers. 

“ The propositions transmitted to-day by the Austrian 
government, speak of the same fundamental proposition— 
that is to say, the neutralization of the Black Sea by a direct 
treaty between Russia and the porte, to regulate by common 
agreement the number of ships of war which each of the 
adjacent powers reserves the right of maintaining for the 
security of its coast. They only differ appreciably from 
those contained in the despatch of the 11th (23rd) of Decem¬ 
ber by the proposal for rectyfying the frontier between 
Moldavia and Bessarabia, in exchange for the places on the 
Russian territory in the actual occupation of the enemy. 

“ This is not the place to inquire if these propositions 
unite the conditions necessary for insuring the repose of the 
East and the security of Europe, rather than those of the 
Russian Government. It is sufficient here to establish the 
point, that at last an agreement has been actually arrived at 
on many of the fundamental bases of peace. 

“ Due regard being had to this agreement, to the wishes 
manifested by the whole of Europe, and to the existence of 
a coalition the tendency of which was every day to assume 
larger proportions, and considering the sacrifices which a 
protraction of the war imposes upon Russia, the Imperial 
Government has deemed it its duty not to delay by accessory 
discussions a w 7 ork, the success of which would respond to its 
heartfelt wishes. 


174 


CONCLUSION OF PEACE. 


4< It has, iii consequence, just given its adhesion to the pro¬ 
positions transmitted by the Austrian Government as a pro¬ 
ject of preliminaries for negotiations for peace. 

“ By the energy of its attitude in the face of a formidable 
coalition, Russia has given a measure of the sacrifices which 
she is prepared to make to defend her honor and dignity ; 
by this act of moderation, the Imperial Government gives at 
the same time a new proof of its sincere desire to arrest the 
effusion of blood, to conclude a struggle so grevious to civili¬ 
zation and humanity, and to restore to Russia and to Europe 
the blessings of peace. 

“ It has a right to expect that the opinion of all civilized 
nations will appreciate the act.” 


CONCLUSION OF PEACE. 

At the Peace Conference, in Paris, it was decided, in effect: 

1. That the Black Sea, so long controlled by Russia, should 
in future be thrown open to all nations ; 

2. That Russia should give up her long-claimed right to 
the control of the mouth of the Danube, and not interfere 
with the navigation of that river in future ; 

3. That Russia should give up one-half of Bessarabia ; 

4. That Russia should not re-fortify Sebastopol, Nicolaieff, 
or the Aland Isles ; 

5. That Russia should relinquish her claim to protect the 
Greeks in Turkey ; 

6. That Russia should restore to Turkey all the territory 
and fortresses in Asia conquered by Mauravieff. 

The Sultan of Turkey claime'd an indemnity from Russia 
for his expenses in the war, but it was not granted. Lord 
Palmerston designed to put forward a similar claim ; but on 
learning that Napoleon would not consent to such a proceed¬ 
ing, he refrained from presenting it. 

As the treaty leaves many important points untouched, it 
is viewed in Europe and in the United States as vague and 
unsatisfactory, and only a prelude to something yet to come. 
This impression is strengthened by the discovery of the 
friendly relations that have suddenly arisen between the 
French Emperor and the Czar—a fact which fills all lovers 
of peace with deep uneasiness. 


THE TREATY OP PEACE. 


175 


THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

Article I. From the day of exchange of ratifications of the treaty, there 
shall be peace and friendship between his Majesty the Emperor of the French, 
her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 
his Majesty the King of Sardinia, his Majesty the Sultan, of the one part, and 
his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, of the other part, as well as between 
their heirs and successors, their respective States, and subjects in perpetuity. 

Art. II. Peace being happily established between their aforesaid Majesties, 
the territories conquered, or occupied by their armies, during the war, shall be 
reciprocally evacuated. Special arrangements shall regulate the mode of evac¬ 
uation, which shall be effected as soon as possible. 

Art. III. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias engages to restore to 
his Majesty the Sultan the town and citadel of Kars, as well as all the other 
parts of the Ottoman territory of which the Russian troops are in possession. 

Art. IY. Their Majesties the Emperor of the French, the Queen of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the King of Sardinia, and the 
Sultan, engage to restore to his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias the 
towns and ports of Sevastopol, Balaklava, Kamiesch, Eupatoria, and Kertch. 

Art. Y. Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, the Emperor of all the Russias, the 
King of Sardinia, and the Sultan, grant a full and entire amnesty to those of 
their subjects who may have been compromised by any participation whatso¬ 
ever in the events of the war in favor of the cause of the enemy. It is expressly 
understood that such amnesty shall extend to the subjects of each of the bel¬ 
ligerent parties, who may have continued, during the war, to be employed in 
the service of one of the other belligerents. 

Art. YI. Prisoners of war shall be immediately given up, on either side. 

Art. YII. Her. Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland, his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, his Majesty the Emperor of 
the French, his Majesty the King of Prussia, his Majesty the Emperor of all 
the Russias, and his Majesty the King of Sardinia, declare the Sublime Porte 
admitted to participate in the advantages of the public law and system of 
Europe. Their Majesties engage, each one on his part, to respect the inde¬ 
pendence and the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire ; guarantee in 
common the strict observance of that engagement; and will, in consequence, 
consider any act tending to its violation as a question of general interest. 

Art. YIII. If there should arise between the Sublime Porte and one or more 
of the other signing powers any misunderstanding which might endanger the 
maintenance of their relations, the Sublime Porte, and each of such powers, 
before having recourse to the use of force, shall afford the other contracting parties 
the opportunity of preventing such an extremity by means of their mediation. 

Art. IX. His Majesty the Sultan, in his constant anxiety for the well-being 
of his subjects, having granted a firman, which, in ameliorating their lot, with¬ 
out distinction of religion or race, proves his generous intentions toward the 
Christian population of his empire, and desiring to give a further proof of his 
sentiments, in this regard, has resolved to communicate to the contracting 
powers the said firman, spontaneously emanating from his sovereign will. The 
contracting powers acknowledge the great value of this communication. It is 
quite understood that the fact of this communication cannot, in any case, give 
to the said powers a right to interfere, either collectively or separately, in the 
relations of his Majesty the Sultan with his subjects, or in the internal admin¬ 
istration of his empire. 

Art. X. The Convention of July 13, 1841, which maintains the old regu¬ 
lation of the Ottoman empire, relative to the closing of the Straits of the Bos¬ 
phorus and Dardanelles, has been revised by common accord. The act con¬ 
cluded with this viewn and conformably to that principle, between the high 
contracting parties, is and remains annexed to the present treaty, and shall 
have the same force and value as if it had formed an integral part of it 


176 


THE TREATY OF PEACE. 


Art. XI. The Black Sea is neutralized. Open to the mercantile marine of 
all nations, its waters and ports are formally and in perpetuity interdicted to 
flags of war, whether belonging to the bordering Powers or fo any other 
Power, save and except the exceptions mentioned in Articles XIY. and XIX. 
of the present treaty. 

Art. XII. Freed from all impediments, trade in the ports and waters of the 
Black Sea shall only be subjected to regulations of health, customs and police, 
conceived in a spirit favorable, to the development of commercial transactions. 
In order to give every desirable security to the commercial and maritime inter¬ 
ests of all nations, Russia and the Sublime Porte will admit Consuls in ports 
situated on the coast of the Black Sea, conformably to the principles of inter¬ 
national law. ✓ 

Art. XIII. The Black Sea being neutralized, according to the terms of 
Article XI., the maintenance or establishment on its coasts of military-maritime 
arsenals becomes as unnecessary as without object. In consequence his Majesty 
the Emperor of all the Russias and his Majesty the Sultan engage neither to 
construct nor to preserve any military-maritime arsenal upon that coast. 

Art. XIY. Their Majesties the Emperor of all the Russias and the Sultan 
having concluded a Convention for the purpose of determining the force and 
number of light vessels necessary for the service of their coasts, which they 
reserve to themselves the right of keeping up in the Black Sea, this Convention 
is annexed to the present Treaty, and shall have the same force and value as if 
it had formed an integral part of it. The Convention can neither be annulled 
or modified without the assent of the Powers parties to the present Treaty. 

Art. XY. The Act of the Congress of Yienna having established the prin 
ciples destined to regulate the navigation of the rivers which separate or tra¬ 
verse several States, the contracting Powers stipulate between themselves that 
for the future these principles shall be also applicable to the Danube and to 
its embouchures. They declare that this disposition constitutes henceforth a 
part of the public law of Europe, and they take it (the disposition) under their 
guaranty. The navigation of the Danube cannot be subjected to any hinder- 
ance or dues which shall not be expressly provided for by the stipulations con¬ 
tained in the following articles. In consequence no toll shall be taken that 
may be based solely upon the fact of the navigation of the river, nor any duty 
upon merchandise which may be on board vessels. The police and quarantine 
regulations to be established for the security of the States separated, or tra¬ 
versed by this river, shall be conceived in such a manner as to favor the circu¬ 
lation of vessels as much as possible. Save these regulations, no obstacle 
whatever shall be piaced in the way of the free navigation. 

Art. XYI. With the object of realizing the dispositions of the preceding 
article, a Commission, in which France, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Rus¬ 
sia, Sardinia, and Turkey, shall each be represented by a delegate, shall be 
charged to design and cause to be executed the necessary works "from Isatcka 
downward, in order to clear the mouths of the Danube, as well as the neighbor¬ 
ing parts of the sea, from the sands and other obstacles which obstruct them, 
so as to put that part of the river, and the said parts of the sea, in the best 
possible state of navigability. To cover the expenses of these -works, as well 
as of the establishments having for their obje t to assure and facilitate the navi¬ 
gation of the mouths of the Danube, fixed duties, at a proper rate, to be 
settled by the Commission by a majority of votes, may be levied, on the ex¬ 
press conditions that in this respect, as in all others, the flags of all nations 
shall be treated on a footing of perfect equality. 

Art. XVII. A Commission shall be appointed, composed of delegates of 
Austria, Bavaria, the Sublime Porte, and Wurtemburg, (one for each of 
these Powers.) to which Commission, the Commission of the three Danubian 
Principalitie:- whose nomination shall have been approved by the Porte, shall 
be joined. This Commission, which shall be permanent, will first draw up the 
regulations of navigation and of fluvial police ; secondly, remove the obstacles, 
of whatever nature they may be, which a3 yet prevent the application of the 
dispositions of the Treaty of Yienna to the Danube; thirdly, give orders for 


THE TREATY OF PEA5E. 


177 


and cause to be executed the necessary works throughout the whole course of 
the river ; and fourthly, after the dissolution of the European Commission, see 
to the maintenance of "the navigability of the mouths of the Danube, and the 
neighboring parts of the Sea. 

Art. XVIII. It is understood that the European Commission will have ful¬ 
filled its task, and that the Bordering Commission will have terminated the 
works designated in the preceding article under the numbers 1 and 2, within 
the space of two years. The Powers, parties to this treaty, assembled in con¬ 
ference and informed of these facts, will, after having taken note of them, pro¬ 
nounce the dissolution of the European Commission, and thenceforth the per¬ 
manent Bordering Commission shall enjoy the same powers as those with which 
the European Commission will have been invested up to that time. 

Art. XIX. In order to assure the execution of the regulations which shall 
have been settled by common accord, in accordance with the principles herein¬ 
before enunciated, each of the contracting Powers shall have the right to sta¬ 
tion two light-vessels at the- mouths of the Danube. 

Art. XX. In exchange for the towns, ports and territories enumerated in 
Article IV. of the present treaty, and in order the better to assure the liberty of 
the navigation of the Danube, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias con¬ 
sents to the rectification of his frontier in Bessarabia. The new frontier will 
start from the Black Sea at one kilometre to the east of Lake Bourna Sola, 
will perpendicularly rejoin the Akerman road, follow this road as far as the 
Valley of Trajan, pass to the south of Belgrade, reascend along the river Yal- 
puck as far as Saratiska, and will terminate at Kakamori, on the Pruth. Above 
this point the old frontier between the two empires will undergo no modifica¬ 
tion. Delegates of the contracting Powers will settle, in its details, the bound¬ 
ary line of the new frontier. 

Art. XXI. The territory ceded by Russia shall be annexed to the Princi¬ 
pality of Moldavia, under the suzerainty of the Sublime Porte. The inhabit¬ 
ants of this territory will enjoy the rights and privileges assured to the Prin¬ 
cipalities, and during the space of three years they shall be permitted to 
remove their domicils elsewhere, freely disposing of their property. 

Art. XXII. The Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia will continue to 
enjoy, under the suzerainty of the Porte and under the guaranty of the con¬ 
tracting Powers, the privileges and immunities of which they are in possession. 
No exclusive protection shall be exercised over them by any one of the guar¬ 
anteeing Powers. There shall be no private right of interference in their 
internal affairs. 

Art. XXIII. The Sublime Porte engages to preserve to the aforesaid Prin¬ 
cipalities an independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of 
worship, legislation, commerce, and navigation. The laws and statutes now in 
force shall be revised. To establish a complete accord as to this revision, a 
special Commission, with regard to the composition of which the high con¬ 
tracting parties will come to an understanding, will assemble without delay at 
Bucharest, together with a Commission of the Sublime Porte. The task of 
this Commission will be to inquire into the actual state and condition of the 
Principalities, aud to propose the basis of their future organization. . 

Art. XXIV. His Majesty the Sultan promises to convoke immediately in 
each of the provinces a Divan, ad hpc, composed in such a manner as to con¬ 
stitute the most exact representation of the interests of all classes of society. 
These Divans are to give expression to the wishes of the population relative 
to the definitive organization of the Principalities. An instruction of the 
Congress will regulate the relations of the Commission with these Divans. 

Art. XXV. Taking into consideration the opinion expressed by the two 
Divans, the Commission will, without delay, transmit the result of its own 
labors to the present seat of the Conferences. The final understanding.with 
the Suzerain Power will be recorded in a Convention concluded at Paris be¬ 
tween the high contracting parties, and a liattischeriff conformable to the stip¬ 
ulations of the Convention will definitively constitute the organization of these 


178 


THE TREATY OF PEACE. 


provinces—placed thenceforth under the collective guaranty of all the powert 
parties to the treaty. 

Art. XXA r I. It is agreed that there shall be in the Principalities an armed 
national force, organized with the object of maintaining the security of the 
interior, and assuring that of the frontiers. No impediment is to be placed in 
the way of such extraordinary measures of defence as, in accordance w r ith the 
Sublime Puite, the Principalities may be under the necessity of taking to 
repulse any roreign aggression. 

Art. XXVII. If the internal tranquillity of the Principalities should be 
menaced or compromised, the Sublime Porte will come to an understanding 
with the other contracting Powers, as to the measures to be taken to maintain 
or re-establish legal order. No armed intervention can take place without a 
previous accord with these Powers. 

Art. XXVIII. The Principality of Servia will continue to be dependent 
upon the Sublime Porte, conformably to the Imperial Hatts, which fix and 
determine its rights and immunities, placed henceforth under the collective 
guaranty of the contracting Powers. In consequence, the said Principality 
will preserve its independent and national administration, as well as full liberty 
o»f worship, legislation, commerce, and navigation. 

Art. XXIX. The right of garrison of the Sublime Porte, such as is stipulated 
for by anterior regulations, is maintained. No armed intervention is to take 
place in Servia without a previous accord between all the contracting Powers. 

Art. XXX. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and his Majesty 
the Sultan keep in its integrity the state of their possessions in Asia, such as 
it existed legally before the rupture. In order to prevent any local contest, 
the boundary of the frontier will be verified, and, if need be, rectified, but so 
that no territorial prejudice shall result to either of the two parties from any 
such rectification. With this view a mixed Commission, composed of two 
Russian Commissioners, two Ottoman Commissioners, one French Commis 
sioner, and one English Commissioner, shall be sent to the locality immediately 
after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Court of Russia 
and the Sublime Porte. The labors of this Commission are to be terminated 
within the space of eight months, dating from the exchange of the ratifica¬ 
tions of the present treaty. 

Art. XXXI. The territories occupied during the war by the troops of their 
Majesties the Emperor of the French, the Emperor of Austria, the Queen of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Irefand, and the King of Sardinia 
under the terms of the Conventions signed at Constantinople on March 12, 

1854, between France, Great Britain, and the Sublime Porte, the 14th of June 
of the same year between Austria and the Sublime Porte, and the 15th March 

1855, between Sardinia and the Sublime Porte, shall be evacuated as soon as 
possible after the ratification of the present treaty. The time within which 
the evacuation is to be effected and the means of execution will be the subject 
of a Convention between the Sublime Porte and the powers whose troops 
occupy the territories. 

Art. XXXII. Until the treaties or conventions which existed before the war 
between the belligerent Powers shall have been renewed or replaced by new acts, 
the commerce of importation and exportation shall go on reciprocally upon the 
footing of the rules in force before the war, and their subjects shall in all other 
respects be respectively treated upon the footing of the most favored nation. 

Art. XXXIII. The Convention concluded this clay between their Majesties 
the Emperor of the French, the Queen of the United K ingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland of the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias of 
the other part, relative to the Aland Isles, is and remains annexed to the present 
treaty, and shall have the same force and value as if it had made part of it. 

Art. XXXIV. The present treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications 
shall be exchanged in Paris, within the space of four weeks, or sooner, if pos¬ 
sible. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it and 
have hereto affixed the seal of their arms. 


conventions. 


179 


In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, 
and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. 

Done at Paris, the 30th day of the month of March, in the year 1856. 

CLARENDON. 

COWLEY. 

BUOLrS CH AUENSTEIN. 
HUBNER. 

A. AVALEWSKI. 
BOURQUENEY. 
MANTEUFFEL. 

C. M. D’HATZFELDT. 
ORLOFF. 

BRUNNOW. 

C. CAYOUR. 

DE VILLAMARINA. 

A ALL 

MEHEMMED DJEMIL. 


ADDITIONAL AND TRANSITORY ARTICLES. 

The stipulations of the Convention respecting the Straits, signed this day, 
shall not be applicable to the vessels of war employed by the belligerent 
Powers for the evacuation by sea of the territories occupied by their armies, 
but the said stipulations shall resume their entire effect as soon as the evacua' 
tion shall be terminated. 

Done at Paris, the 30th day of the month of March, in the year 1856. 

[Here follow the signatures.^. 


CONVENTIONS 

ANNEXED TO THE PRECEDING TREATY. 

I.—Convention between her Majesty, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor 
of the French, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of Russia, and the King of 
Sardinia, on the one part, and the Sultan on the other part, respecting the 
Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus. 

(Signed at Paris, March 30, 1856. Ratification exchanged at Paris, April 
27, 1856.) 

In the name of Almighty God. 

Article I. His Majesty the Sultan, on the one part, declares that he is 
firmly resolved to maintain for the future the principle invariably established 
as the ancient rule of his empire, and in virtue of which it has at all tim«s 
been prohibited for the ships of war of foreign Powers to enter the Straits of 
the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus, and that, so long as the Porte is at 
peace, his Majesty will admit no foreign ship of war into the said Straits. 

And their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, the King 
of Prussia, the Emperor of all the Russias, and the King of Sardinia, on the 
other part, engage to respect this determination of the Sultan, and to conform 
i hemselves to the principle above declared. 

Art. II. The Sultan reserves to himself, as in past times, to deliver firmans 
of passage for light vessels under flag of war, which shall be employed, as is 
usual, in the service of the missions of foreign Powers. 

Art III. The same exception applies to the light vessels under flag of war, 
which each of the contracting Powers is authorized to station at the mouths 

V 



180 


CONVENTIONS. 


of the Danube, in order to secure the execution of the regulations relative to 
the liberty of that river, and the number of which is not to exceed two for 
each Power. 

Art. IY. The present convention, annexed to the general treaty signed at 
Paris this day, shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the 
space of four weeks, or sooner, if possible. 

In Witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, 
and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. 

Done at Paris, the 30th day of the month of March,.in the year 1856. 

[Here follow the signatures.] 

2. —Convention between the Emperor of Russia and the Sultan, limiting 
their naval force in the Black Sea. 

(Signed at Paris, March 30. Ratifications exchanged at Paris, April 27, 
1856.) 

In the name of Almighty God. 

Article I. The high contracting parties mutually engage not to have in 
*ke Black Sea any other vessel of war than those of which the number, the 
force and the dimensions are hereinafter stipulated. 

Art. II. The high contracting parties reserve to themselves each to main¬ 
tain in that sea six steam vessels, of fifty metres in length at the line of float¬ 
ation, of a tonnage of 800 tons at the maximum, and four light steam or 
sailing vessels, of a tonnage which shall not exceed 200 tons each. 

Art. III. The present convention, annexed to the general treaty signed at 
Paris this day, shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the 
space of four weeks, or sooner, if possible. 

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, 
•*nd have affixed thereto the seal of them arms. 

Done at Paris, the 13th day of the month of March, in the year 1856. 

ORLOFF. 

BRUNNOW. 

AALI. 

MEHEMMED DJEMIL. 

3. —Convention between her Majesty, the Emperor of the French, and the 
Emperor of Russia, respecting the Aland Islands. 

(Signed at Paris, March 30,1856. Ratifications exchanged at Paris, April 
27, 1856.) 

In the name of Almighty God. 

Article I. His Majesty the Emperer of all the Russias, in order to respond 
to the desire which has been expressed to him by their Majesties the Queen of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Emperor of the 
French, declares that the Aland Islands shall not be fortified, and that no 
military or naval establishment shall be maintained or created there. 

Art. II. The present convention, annexed to the general treaty signed at 
Paris this day, shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the 
space of four weeks, or sooner, if possible. 

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same 
and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. 

Done at Paris, the 30th day of the month of March, in the year 1856 

CLARENDON. 

COWLEY. 

A. WALEWSKL 
BOURQUENEY. 
ORLOFF. 
BRUNNOW. 


MARITIME LAW. 


181 


MARITIME LAW. 

Declaration respecting maritime law, signed by the Plenipotentiaries of 
Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, liussia, Sardinia and Turkey, assem¬ 
bled in Congress at Paris, April 16, 1856 : 

The Plenipotentiaries who signed the treaty of Paris, of the 30th of March, 
1856, assembled in conference— 

Considering— 

That maritime law, in time of war, has long been the subject of. deplorable 
disputes; 

That the uncertainty of the law and of the duties in such a matter, gives rise 
to differences of opinion,between neutrals and belligerents which may occasion 
serious difficulties, and even conflicts ; 

That it is consequently advantageous to establish a uniform doctrine on so 
important a point; 

That the Plenipotentiaries assembled in Congress at Paris cannot better 
respond to the intentions by which their governments are animated, than by 
seeking to introduce into international relations fixed principles in this respect: 

The above-mentioned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized, resolved to 
concert among themselves as to the means of attaining this object; and having 
come to an agreement, have adopted the following solemn declaration : 

1. Privateering is, *nd remains, abolished. 

2. The neutral flag covers enemy’s goods, with the exception of contraband 
of war. 

3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to 
capture under enemy’s flag. 

4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective—that is to say, main¬ 
tained by a force sufficient really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy. 

The Governments of the undersigned Plenipotentiaries engage to bring the 
present declaration to the knowledge of the States which have not taken part 
in the Congress of Paris, and to invite them to accede to it. 

Convinced that the maxims which they now proclaim cannot but be received 
with gratitude by the whole world, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries doubt not 
that the efforts of their Governments to obtain the general adoption thereof 
will be crowned with .full success. 

The present declaration is not and shall not be binding, except between 
those Powers who have acceded, or shall accede, to it. 

Done at Paris, the 16th of April, 1856; 


[Here follow the signatures.] 


Abbatis. A species of entrenchment, affording an excellent and ready 
addition to the defense of a post, being simply trees felled and laid with 
their branches so interwoven as to present a thick row of pointed stakes to¬ 
wards the enemy. 

Alarm Post. The place appointed for every regiment or detachment to 
assemble, in case of a sudden alarm. 

Approaches. The first, second, and third parallels, trenches, saps* 
mines, etc., by which the besiegers approach a fortified place. 

Apron. A piece of thin or sheet-lead used to cover the vent of a cannon. 

Barbet Batteries. Platforms elevated behind a parapet or breast¬ 
work, to enable the guns mounted on them to have a free range over the 
surrounding country. 

Barricade. To barricade is to block up every avenue to a post by which 
the enemy might have access. This is performed by means of abbatis, 
breast-works, wagons, etc.; and small ditches may be occasionally dug across 
the road, leaving a narrow retiring-path for the sentries posted in front. 

Bastion. The leading principle in the construction of a bastion is, that 
every part of it should be defended by the flanking fire of some other part 
of the works. It is composed of a large mass of earth excavated from the 
ditch, and reveted towards the country with masonry. 

Bivouac. From his, “double,” and the German wache , “a guard.” An 
army is said to bivouac, when it does not encamp at night. 

Breach. An opening or gap effected in any part of the works of a forti¬ 
fied place by the fire of the enemy’s artillery. 

Breast-work. A parapet thrown up as high as the breasts of the troops 
defending it. 

Caponiere. In fortification, is a passage from the body of the place to 
an outwork; it is usually sunk below the surface of the ground, and is called 
single or double, according as it is provided with a parapet on one or both 
sides. 

Casemate. A chamber made within the ramparts of a fortification, to 
contain a number of guns, embrasures being out for them through the re- 
v6tement. 

Chain-shot. Two balls connected by a chain, principally used in destroy* 
ug the rigging of ships. 



MILITARY TERMS. 


Chamber of a Mortar, A cavity at the bottom of the bore to receive 
the charge. 

Cover. In military operations, cover expresses security or protection. 
In the field, it implies that the files are placed exactly in rear of each other. 

Counterscarp. The outer boundary of the ditch, which in permanent 
fortifications should be reveted with masonry, in order that the slope may 
be as steep as possible. 

Countersign. A particular word or number which is exchanged between 
guards and intrusted to those employed on duty in camp or garrison. 

Debouche. The outlet of a wood or narrow pass. 

Debris. A French term for the wreck or remains of an army which has 
been routed. 

Defile. A narrow passage or road, in marching through which the 
troops can present only a small front. 

Demi-bastion. That which has one face and one flank cut off by the 
capital. The heads of horn and crown works are terminated by demi- 
bastions. 

Ditch. An excavation or trench made round the works of a fortifica¬ 
tion, from whence the earth necessary for the construction of the rampart 
and parapet is raised. 

Echellon. From the French word echelon. A formation in the field 
exercise of the army, in which the divisions of a regiment are placed in a 
situation resembling the steps of a ladder, a circumstance which has caused 
the movement to be thus designated. 

Embrasure. An embrasure is an opening cut through the parapet, in 
order to enable the artillery to command a certain extent of the surrounding 
country. 

Enceinte. The rampart inclosing the body of the place, composed of 
the bastions and curtains, and surrounded by the main ditch, is called the 
enceinte. 

Enfilade. To sweep the whole length of any work or line of troops by 
a fire from a battery placed on the prolongation of that side. 

Epaulement. An elevation of earth, thrown up to cover troops from 
the fire of the enemy; it is composed of filled gabions or fascines filled with 
earth. 

Escalade. The attack of a fortress, by scaling the walls. 

Escarp. The side of the ditch next the rampart. In permanent fortifica¬ 
tion it is usually faced with bricks, supported by counter-forts, and sur¬ 
mounted by an edging of stone, called the cordon or tablette. This wall of 
masonry is called the rev^tement 

Fascines. A species of long cylindrical fagots, made of brushwood 
or small branches of trees, and bear different names according to their 
length and the purpose for which they are intended. The larger kind are 
called saucissons. 

File. A line of soldiers drawn up behind one another. As a general 
term, a file means two soldiers, the front and rear rank men. Every soldier 
of infantry covers a space of 21 inches. 

Fleche or Redan. The most simple species of field-works, and being 
quickly and easily constructed, they are frequently used in the field. They 




MILITARY TERMS. 

usually consist of two faces, forming a salient angle towards some object— 
thus yy. 

Fuse. The tube which is fixed into a shell, filled with combustible ma¬ 
terials, and furnished with a quick match. Ibis cut to a length proportional 
to the distance it is to be thrown, in order that it may continue burning 
during the time the shell is in its range, and afterwards, by setting fire to 
the powder, cause the shell to explode as soon as it touches the ground. 

Gabions. Cylindrical baskets of various dimensions, without bottoms, 
and employed in entrenchments or embrasures for guns. The gabions 
generally used in field-works are three feet high and two feet in diameter. 
To construct gabions, tie a cord of eleven inches long to two sticks, and 
having driven one of these into the earth, describe a circle with the other 
upon the level ground. At proper distances upon the circumference of this 
circle insert the staves or pickets for the gabions; these should be four feet 
long, and from one inch to one inch and a half thick. Bind them at top and 
bottom with a strong wreath of pliant twigs, then proceed to interweave the 
twigs, passing them alternately inside of one picket and outside the next 
two, until the work is completed, driving them down from time to time with 
a mallet. Two men are required to construct a gabion, besides another em¬ 
ployed in cutting the wood. 

Gallery. A passage or communication to that part of a mine where the 
powder is lodged. 

Glacis. The superior slope of the parapet of the covered way, produced 
; n a gentle declivity to the level of the surrounding country. 

Gorge. The entrance into a bastion, demilune, or redoubt. 

Guidons. The silk standards of regiments of dragoons and light dragoons. 
They are broad at one extreme, and almost pointed at the other. 

Intrenchment or Entrenchment. As a general term, it denotes a ditch, 
or trench, with a parapet. z 

Mask. A battery is said to be masked when its external appearance is 
such as to mislead and lull the suspicions of a reconnoitring or approaching 
enemy. 

Parapet. The parapet in permanent fortification is a mass of earth ele¬ 
vated on the edge of the rampart next to the country. It is made about 
eighteen feet thick, in order that cannon-shot may not penetrate it, and 
about seven and a half feet high, to screen the troops behind it from the 
lire of the enemy. 

Petard. An engine made of gun-metal, fixed upon a board, and contain¬ 
ing about nine pounds of powder, with a hole at the end opposite to the 
plank to fill it, into which the vent is screwed; the petard thus prepared i 3 
fixed to the gate of a fortress, and being fired bursts it open. Leathern 
bags containing fifty pounds of powder have recently been ascertained to be 
more expeditious and successful than petards. 

Postern. A passage constructed under the rampart, serving as a com¬ 
munication trom the town into the ditch. 

Rampart. A broad embankment or mass of earth which surrounds a 
fortified place, and forms the enceinte or chain of main works. On its ex¬ 
terior edge the parapet is placed, beyond which it is bounded by jthe main 
ditch, while towards the town it is terminated by the interior slope of the 
rampart, on which ramps (oblique roads) are made for the easy ascent 
the troops and artillery. 


( 


MILITARY TERMS. 


Rank and File. This term denotes corporals as well as privates, as they 
carry firelocks, and parade in the ranks in the same manner. 

Razed. W orks or fortifications are said to be razed when they are totally 
demolished. 

Redoubts. Redoubts are frequently used in the field, and as they are 
generally occupied by a stronger detachment than a redan, they may be 
safely trusted at a greater distanse from the main body, and are expected to 
make a proportionate defense, sufficient at any rate to allow time for the 
arrival of succors from the army. Redoubts are extremely proper for 
covering an advanced post, for defending a defile or a height, for protecting 
a retreat or the passage of a river or bridge, for supporting the wings of an 
army, etc. The figure of a redoubt is commonly square, but a circular 
redoubt is superior in its defense to that of any polygon. 

Reveille. The beat of drums at daybreak, after which the sentries cease 
to challenge. 

Ricochet. An important branch of artillery practice, in which the guns, 
being loaded with a small charge and pointed at an elevation rarely exceed¬ 
ing ten degrees, the shot is so projected as merely to clear the parapet of 
the enemy’s fortifications, from whence it bounds along the rampart, de¬ 
stroying the carriages of the guns, and causing a great loss of life to the 
defenders. 

Running-Fire. That in which troops fire rapidly in succession. 

Sally. A sally or sortie is a secret movement of attack made by strong 
detachments of troops from a besieged place, for the purpose of destroying 
the enemy’s works. 

Sand-Bags. Bags from twelve to fourteen inches wide, and about 
thirty inches long, filled with earth, for the purpose of repairing breaches 
and embrasures when damaged by the enemy’s fire. 

Shells, (in French Bombe.) Hollow iron balls thrown among the 
enemy from mortars and howitzers. Being filled with powder, and pro¬ 
vided with a fuse which sets fire to the contents, the shell explodes, causing 
great havcc among the enemy’s troops. 

Spike. To spike a cannon is to drive a large nail or iron-spike into the 
vent, which will render the cannon unserviceable for a time. Many inven¬ 
tions have been suggested for forcing out the nail, but the best remedy is to 
drill a new vent. 

Strategy. The science of military command, and of the different means 
or manner of conducting all the operations of war. 

Surprise. To fall upon an enemy unexpectedly, to attack him while in 
camp, or engaged in passing a defile, river, etc. 

Tetes. Tetes (or TStes de Pont) are works thrown up for covering the 
communication across a river. 

Trenches. Ditches made during a siege, in order that the assailants 
may approach the works more securely, on which account they are also 
called the approaches. 

Tumbrils. Covered carts, which are employed to convey ammunition, 
and the tools for pioneers, miners, etc. 


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A PICTURESQUE MAP OF THE SEAT OF WAR 


m 


the UANUBIAN PROVINCES,TURKEY,ASIAMINOR,SOUTHERN RUSSIA and tHe CRIMEA 



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NINETY-FIVE REFERENCES TO IMPORTANT POINTS AND POSITIONS. 


Bukavnn». 

- Sereth. 

Ri7«r 3-ruth. 

Transylvania—a province of Austria 
Kronstadt—a frontier town of Aus¬ 
tria. 

Part of the Carpathian range of 
Mountains. 

Moldavia. 

Botuehany. 

Jassy. 

Galatz. 

Brai low. 


12. Bucharest—the capital of Walleohia. 

23- The River Pruth—the present bound¬ 

32. 

13. Wallaehia. 

ary of the Russian Empire. 

33. 

14. Oltenitza. 

24. The River Dniester. 

34. 

15. Giurgevo. 

25. The River Danube—the northern 

35. 

16. Bessarabia—a province of Turkey, 

boundary of the Turkish Empire. 


taken by the Russians. 

26. Part of the Turkish Province of Bul¬ 

36. 

17. Bender—the capital of Bessarabia. 

garia. 

37. 

18. Akerman. 

27. Schumla. 

38. 

19. Kilia. 

28. Rustchuk. 

39. 

20. Kegei&l. 

29. Silistria. 


21. Faltsi. 

30. Hirsova. 

40. 

22. Kicbenan. 

31. Matchin. 

41. 



42. 


Badabagh. 

Varna. 

Baltschik. 

A range of rugged Mountains, formerly 
called Husnu., now the Balkans. 
Burgas, 

Adrianople. 

Constantinople. 

The Bosphorus, dividing Europe and 
Asia. 

Scutari, a City of Asia Minor. 

The Sea of Marmor.. 

The Dardanelles. 


•13. Gallipoli. 

44. Sultanieh, the Troas of the New Tes¬ 
tament. 

45. Bunarb&ski, supposed to bo the site of 
Ilium. 

46. Besika Bay. 

47. Mount Ida. 

48. Mount Olympus. 

49. Broussa. SO. Uraid. 

51. Boli. 

52. Sinope—where a great portion of the 
Turkish fleet was surprised by the 
Russians and destroyed. 


im binned- -a commercial town of 
Turkey. The country around Sinope 
and Trebizond ww formerly a Roman 
province, called Psphlagonia in the 
New Testament, 

Angora. 

Tokat. 

Amasia. 

Niksar. 

Erzeroum, the cspital of Turkish 
Armenia. 

Bajazid. 

Mount Ararat. 


61. tun van. 

62. Kars. 

63. G umri. 

631. The Plains of Ararat—called the 
Plains of Shinar, in the Bible. 

64. Tiftis, the capital of Georgia. In this 
district, and the mountain passed of 
Circassia, Schamyl is warring against 
Russia. His head-quarters are at- 

65. Gori. 

66. Stavropol, the capital of Caucasia, 
the country inhabited by the Calmuck 
Tartars. 


Caucasus Mountains, extending from 
the Sea of Azof to the Caspian Sea. 
The flat country of the Don Cossacks 
between Stavropol and Tcherkark. 
New Tcherkark, the capital of the 
Don Cossacks. 

The River Don. 

Rostov. 

Azof. 

The Sea of Azof. 

The Steppes of Southern Russia. 
Odessa, on the southern coast of the 
Black Sea. 


Nicolaicf. 

The village in which the English 
philanthropist, Howard, died, and 
was buried. 

Kherson. 78. Berislav. 

Perikop, a foMified town at the en¬ 
trance to the Crimea. 

The Crimea. 

Simferopol. 

Bagtcheserai, 
capital, 

Sebastopol. 

Old Fort. 


the ancient Tartar 
84. Eupatoria. 


Balaclava. 87- AUiohta. 

Cafla. 

Gulf of Caffa. 

Kertch. 

Anapa, the principal fortress of the 
Russians on the north-east shore of 
the Black Sea. The succession of 
fortresses below Anapa have ail been 
destroyed. 

Black Sea. 

Position of the Russian^Forcos. 

« “ English “ 

“ “ Fteuoli “ 

« <* Turl.i*th « 




na 


Published by 6. S. WELLS, Bookseller and Stationer, 1401 Nassau Street, New York, 








































































































































Showing the Attack and Capture of the Alalakoff, Attack on the Redan and Fall ol Sebastopol. 






1, Malakoff Tower and Outworks, assaulted 

and taken by the French Sept. 8th, 1855. 

2, Lesser Redan. 

3, Great Redan, assaulted by the English, 

Sept. 8th, 1855. 

4, Forth Sevastopol, position of the Russian 
forces after evacuating South Sevastopol 

5, Sevastopol City, [S. Sevastopol.] Aban¬ 



doned and burnt by the Russians, Sept. 
8th, 1855. 

6, Mamekm, from which the French com¬ 
menced the final assault on the Malakoff. 

7, General Pellesier’s Staff. 

8, Star Portress or Citadel, containing bar¬ 
racks for 5000 men, a church and other 
buildings 




9. The French Troops storming the Mala¬ 
koff and Lesser Redan. [Redan. 

10. English Forces storming the Great 

11. French and English Batteries and Siege 

W orks. 

12 . Karabelnaya, or suburbs of Sevastopol, 

including Barracks, Hospital, Docks, 
&c. 

13 . Bay of Sevastopol. 


14. Commercial Harbor. 

Artillery Bay. 

Fort Paul, 80 guns, from which the 
Russians retreated to the Forth side. 

17 . Dock Yard Harbor. 

18 . Careening Bay. 

19 . Russian Fleet—sunk Sept. 8th. 

20. Fort Alexander, 90 guns. 

2L Battery of Sevastopol, 50 guas. 


15 . 

16 . 


it? 0 

22. Fort Nicholas. 192 guns. 

23. Flag-stall Battery, 

24. Quarantine Fort, 51 guns. 

25. Fort Constantine, 110 guns. 

26. Fort Catharine, 120 guns. 

27. Telegraph Battery. 17 guns. 

28. Small Battery guarding the entrance to 
the north ravine, called Severnai. 

29. Soukia Fortress, 50 guns. 




30, f ortifications of the Russians. 

31, Inkermau Light House: 

32, Navy Batteries. 

33, French Artillery. 

34, Bridge of Boats, over which the Rus¬ 
sians retreated to the North side. 

35, Sunken Ships and Boom, blocking tne 

entrance to Sevastopol Harbor. 

36, Quarries. 






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